The Effect of Four Weeks of Quadriceps Swedish Massage on ‎the‎ Fluctuation Indices of ‎the Center of Pressure of Middle Age Women with Medial Compartment Knee ‎Osteoarthritis

People with Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) suffer from weak quadriceps muscles and decreased proprioception in the knee joint. Therefore, one of the most important complications that patients with KOA face is imbalance and falls. This study aimed to determine the effect of four weeks of Swedish massage on the fluctuation indices of the center of pressure of middle age women with KOA.

The present study is a controlled randomized trial and has a Swedish massage intervention group (age 52.6±6.72 y, height 1.57±0.05 m, weight 74.4±9.95 N) and a control group (age 52.4±6.71 y, height 1.61±0.05 m, weight 75.93±9.83 N) (n=15 in each). 30 adult women with unilateral knee osteoarthritis were purposefully and accessibly selected based on the inclusion criteria. Then, they were divided into two groups based on Blocked Randomization with Randomly Selected Block Sizes. The static balance of patients had been measured by a foot scan device. And after that, the intervention group received quadriceps muscles Swedish massage (Including exfoliation, petrissage and tapotement techniques) 3 sessions per week for 4 weeks. After four weeks, both groups conducted the post-test. The descriptive and inferential data analyses were conducted using SPSS statistical software with a significance level of p≤0.05. According to the number of subjects, the data’s normality was assessed using the Shapiro-Wilk test and the Homogeneity of variance was assessed by Leven’s test. After confirming these assumptions, the Analysis of Variances was used with SPSS software for between and within groups comparison.

The present study showed that a Swedish massage intervention course effectively improves the balance (with open and closed eyes) of the intervention group. Parameters related to static balance with eyes open: average speed of the center of pressure (p=0.040), ellipse area (p=0.011), minor axis length (p=0.015), major axis length (0.001) (p=0.001), as well as closed eyes: average speed of the center of pressure (p = 0.001), ellipse area (p = 0.001), minor axis length (p=0.001), major axis length (p=0.021) decreased in the post-test, which indicates the improvement of static balance in the intervention group (p≤0.05).

This is the first study investigating the mid-term effect of quadriceps Swedish massage on static balance in patients with knee osteoarthritis. The results of this study showed that massage can improve the fluctuation indices of the center of pressure of adult women with KOA. Therefore, it is suggested to use this technique in addition to other therapeutic interventions to improve balance and prevent falls in these populations.