Doing Prescribed Exercises May Help
Relieve Arthritis Pain
Patients with knee or hip osteoarthritis fare
better if they continue to do their physical therapy
exercises after completing supervised therapy in a formal
program, according to new research in the Journal
Arthritis Care and
Research.
The study also found that arthritis patients
reported less pain, improved muscle strength and a better
range of motion when they followed their provider's
recommendations for overall exercise (such as walking)
and a physically active lifestyle -- a choice that
improved the long-range effectiveness of supervised
therapy.
The World Health Organization deems
osteoarthritis (OA) to be one of the 10 most disabling
conditions in the developed world. Four in five OA
patients have movement limitations, the WHO estimates,
while one-quarter cannot engage in the normal routines of
daily living -- an ordeal for which physical therapy is
often the prescribed short-term remedy.
To assess how well patients do after supervised
therapy, researchers tracked 150 hip and/or knee OA
patients for five years.
The team found that three months after
supervised therapy, nearly 58 percent of the patients
continued to follow their prescribed strength-building
exercise routines, while about 54 percent stuck to
recommended activity patterns.
The more moderate or intense physical activity
the patient did, the more his or her pain decreased. In
addition, the more physical activity, the more physical
function and performance improved according to the study
authors.
Additionally, the more the OA patients adhered
to their self-directed therapy, the more positive they
themselves felt about their condition and its
prognosis.
In a nutshell, continuing to do one’s exercises
after concluding therapy improves the overall
effectiveness if the physical therapy as well as the long
term outlook for the patient.
The problem, the researchers found is that
adherence to home exercise routines tended to diminish
with time, with just over 44 percent of patients doing
the strength-building exercises 15 months out, and only
30 percent doing so 60 months out.
I could’ve saved them the time spent on the
study and told them that!
Folks: please exercise.
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