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Objective. —To determine the effects of structured exercise programs on self-reported disability in older adults with knee osteoarthritis. Setting and Degign. —A randomized, single-blind clinical trial lasting 18 months conducted at 2 academic medical centers. Participants. —A total of 439 community-dwelling adults, aged 60 years or older, with radiographically evident knee osteoarthritis, pain, and self-reported physical disability. Invervention. —An aerobic exercise program, a resistance exercise program, and a health education program. Main Outcome Measures. —The primary outcome was self-reported disability score (range, 1-5). The secondary outcomes were knee pain score (range, 1-6), performance measures of physical function, x-ray score, aerobic capacity, and knee muscle strength. Results. —A total of 365 (83%) participants completed the trial. Overall compliance with the exercise prescription was 68% in the aerobic training group and 70% in the resistance training group. Postrandomization, participants in the aerobic exercise group had a 10% lower adjusted mean (±SE) score on the physical disability questionnaire (1.71 ±0.03 vs 1.90±0.04 units; PConclusions. —Older disabled persons with osteoarthritis of the knee had modest improvements in measures of disability, physical performance, and pain from participating in either an aerobic or a resistance exercise program. These data suggest that exercise should be prescribed as part of the treatment for knee osteoarthritis.
Walter H. Ettinger (1997) studied this question.