A Pilot Randomized Trial of Different Weekly Applications of Kinesthesia, Balance and Agility Exercise Program for Individuals with Knee Osteoarthritis

This pilot study was conducted to determine the feasibility of a large-scale randomized controlled trial to examine the effectiveness of different weekly applications of kinesthesia, balance and agility (KBA) exercises for knee osteoarthritis (OA).

Eighteen knee OA patients were randomly assigned into three groups of six patients: Twice-weekly KBA, thrice-weekly KBA, and control (conventional physical therapy) for six weeks. Feasibility outcomes included recruitment rate, retention/dropout rate, report of adverse events, pain (Visual Analog Scale for pain), and physical function (Ibadan Knee and Hip Osteoarthritis Outcome Measure). Descriptive statistics and a 3 × 2 (treatment group × time) mixed-model ANOVA were applied to analyze the data.

The recruitment rate was 66.6%. Retention rates for the three groups ranged from 90 – 100%. No serious adverse events were reported throughout the study. Pain and physical function significantly improved (P < 0.05) in all the groups post-intervention, except for the conventional physical therapy group, which showed no significant improvement in the physical function (P > 0.05). However, inter-group difference was not significant in all the clinical outcomes evaluated (all P > 0.05).

This study suggests the feasibility of a large-scale randomized controlled trial to examine the effectiveness of different weekly applications of KBA exercises among knee OA individuals, with minor amendments.