{"id":825,"date":"2017-12-06T22:19:50","date_gmt":"2017-12-06T22:19:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stadiasportsmedicine.com\/info\/?p=825"},"modified":"2017-12-06T22:19:50","modified_gmt":"2017-12-06T22:19:50","slug":"journal-club-review-weight-training-is-effective-for-control-of-arthritis-pain-in-the-knees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stadiasportsmedicine.com\/info\/2017\/journal-club-review-weight-training-is-effective-for-control-of-arthritis-pain-in-the-knees\/","title":{"rendered":"Journal Club Review: Weight training is effective for control of arthritis pain in the knees"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jan MH et al.\u00a0 Investigation of clinical effects of high- and low-resistance training for patients with knee osteoarthritis:\u00a0 a randomized controlled trial. Physical Therapy. 2008; Volume 88:\u00a0 pp. 427-436.<\/span><\/p>\n

We know from prior research that patients with arthritis tend to have more problems when they start to avoid activity completely.\u00a0 This reflects the fact that joints were made to be used.\u00a0 When activity is decreased, joints get stiff and more symptomatic. \u00a0Walking programs have been shown to significantly decrease symptoms from established arthritis in the knee.\u00a0 Low-impact exercises such as biking and use of an elliptical glider are also well-tolerated and help keep symptoms at bay.\u00a0 This study looked at the relative benefit of a strength training program in patients over fifty with symptomatic knee arthritis in both joints, comparing both high and low-resistance programs.\u00a0 The degree of patient arthritis ranged from mild to moderately-severe in intensity. \u00a0Average age was 63 years.\u00a0 84% of study subjects were female.<\/p>\n

The resistance training programs were eight weeks in duration, with a frequency of three times per week.\u00a0 Each subject was randomly assigned to a group that either lifted three sets of 8 repetitions at 60% of their one-repetition maximum (1 rep max \u2013 this is the most a subject can lift without repeating the lift) or 10 sets of 15 repetitions at 10% of the one-repetition maximum.\u00a0 Training level was increased each week as the one-repetition maximum also increased.\u00a0 Knee pain and function scores were followed over time.<\/p>\n

This study showed that patients in both resistance training groups made similar gains in comparison to control subjects who did not participate in any strength training, with improvements in overall symptom scores of 44% and 38% in the high and low-resistance training groups respectively.\u00a0 The differences in outcome between the high and low-resistance groups was not significant statistically (meaning that both exercise programs were equally effective in comparison to not exercising).<\/p>\n

This study is an important reminder that although medication, injections, bracing, etc. may be important tools to help manage the chronic symptoms associated with knee arthritis, they are not the only effective tools.\u00a0 It is equally important to keep arthritis patients active so that, to the extent that it is possible, the joint is allowed to function as normally as it can.\u00a0 Thus, low-impact cardiovascular exercising such as walking and biking should be encouraged.\u00a0 Strength training is not commonly considered by physicians as an acceptable component of arthritis management programs, but medical evidence suggests that it should be.\u00a0 Programs can easily be structured in a way to minimize the risk of associated injury and maximize the benefits to the knee.\u00a0 It is important to keep in mind that arthroscopic surgery for arthritis has not been shown to be effective in most cases.\u00a0 Although joint replacement is a wonderful option for people who are at a point where nothing else is working, most people understandably choose to delay this option as long as possible.<\/p>\n

If you would like to discuss nonoperative management options for arthritis pain, give us a call at (515)221-1102.\u00a0 We can get you feeling better!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jan MH et al.\u00a0 Investigation of clinical effects of high- and low-resistance training for patients with knee osteoarthritis:\u00a0 a randomized […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":826,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[104,90,98,89,137],"class_list":["post-825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport-med-research","tag-arthritis","tag-exercise","tag-knee-pain","tag-training","tag-weight-training"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stadiasportsmedicine.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stadiasportsmedicine.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stadiasportsmedicine.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stadiasportsmedicine.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stadiasportsmedicine.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=825"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stadiasportsmedicine.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":827,"href":"https:\/\/stadiasportsmedicine.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825\/revisions\/827"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stadiasportsmedicine.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stadiasportsmedicine.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stadiasportsmedicine.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stadiasportsmedicine.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}