Comparative Effects of Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Stretching and Isometric Exercises in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis: Randomised Clinical Trial)

Background: Knee osteoarthritis is a chronic degenerative disease that has been observed to be caused by the damaging effects of inflammatory mediators on bones and cartilage. Knee osteoarthritis has been ranked as the 11th leading cause of disability globally, which tends to affect 3.8% of almost three hundred evaluated health conditions. Proprioceptive neuromuscular stretching and isometric exercises might be preferred as an interventional technique for the rehabilitation of patients with knee osteoarthritis. Objective: To compare the effects of proprioceptive neuromuscular stretching with isometric exercises among patients with knee osteoarthritis. Methodology: Our current study is a randomised clinical trial (n=30). Patients with knee osteoarthritis, aged 35 to 50 years, were randomly allocated into two groups: one receiving proprioceptive neuromuscular stretching and the other receiving isometric exercises. Data for this current study were collected from the Core Physiotherapy Clinic, Layyah, Pakistan. Patients, both male and female, aged between 35 and 50 years, Kellgren and Lawrence’s criteria for grades I and II knee osteoarthritis, were recruited in this study using non-probability purposive sampling. The tools used to assess pain and quality of life were the numeric pain rating scale and the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index, respectively. The scores were taken at baseline, after the third and sixth weeks. The age-related numerical data was represented in the form of mean and standard deviation. The categorical data was represented in the form of frequency and percentage for categories such as gender. For comparing the outcomes of the different experimental groups, the Mann-Whitney U test was employed. Results: The outcome variables for both groups showed statistically significant improvements over the tenure of 6 weeks. Inter-group analysis for analysed by employing the Mann-Whitney U test (p<0.005). Conclusion: Our current study concluded that both interventions either proprioceptive neuromuscular stretching and isometric exercises both are effective for treating knee osteoarthritis, but proprioceptive neuromuscular stretching tends to show more improvement and more significant results for intensity of pain and quality of life of patients with knee osteoarthritis.