Highlights
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Twelve weeks of aquatic cycling training improved self-reported physical functioning and knee pain in patients with mild-to-moderate osteoarthritis.
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The posttreatment group differences in physical functioning and knee pain were secured for at least 3 months.
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The aquatic cycling group showed a short-term improvement in disease-specific quality of life after a 12-week aquatic cycling training program.
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Attendance of sessions was high (>80%) indicating adequate tolerance.
Abstract
Objective
To assess the efficacy of a 12-week aquatic cycling training program for improving
knee pain and physical functioning in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA).
Design
Two-arm, single-blind, parallel-group randomized controlled trial.
Settings
OA outpatient clinic of the Maastricht University Medical Center+.
Participants
Patients (N=111, 50-70y) with unilateral mild-to-moderate knee OA.
Interventions
Participants (aquatic cycling [AC] group, n=55) received AC sessions of 45 min each
2 times per week. Each session combined upright seated cycling with out-of-saddle
positions and exercises for the upper and lower body. The usual care (UC) group (n=47)
continued with UC and was offered 12 AC sessions in a local swimming pool after their
trial participation.
Main Outcome Measures
The Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) on knee pain and physical
function was assessed at baseline, postintervention, and at 24-wk follow-up. Multilevel
(mixed regression) analysis examined the effects.
Results
Average attendance rate for the AC sessions was 80%. Statistically significant differences
at postintervention and follow-up were found for knee pain in mean ± SD (UC pretest,
57.89±15.26; posttest, 55.90±18.04; follow-up, 57.24±19.16; and AC pretest, 56.96±12.96;
posttest, 63.55±15.33; follow-up, 64.35±17.26; estimate, 8.16; SE, 3.27; 95% confidence
interval [CI], 1.67-14.64; effect size [ES], 0.50) and physical functioning (UC pretest,
66.32±16.28; posttest, 66.80±19.04; follow-up, 65.42±17.98; and AC pretest, 61.89±17.151;
posttest, 70.14±17.52; follow-up, 69.00±16.84; estimate, 7.16; SE, 3.19; 95% CI, 0.83-13.49;
ES, 0.43) in favor of the aquatic group.
Conclusions
The results suggest that a 12-week AC training program improves self-reported knee
pain and physical functioning in patients with mild-to-moderate knee OA compared to
UC.
Keywords
Lists of abbreviations:
AC ( aquatic cycling), CI ( confidence interval), ES ( effect size), KOOS ( Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score questionnaire), MUMC+ ( Maastricht University Medical Center+), OA ( osteoarthritis), QoL ( quality of life), RCT ( randomized controlled trial), TUG ( timed Up and Go test), UC ( usual care), 6MWT ( 6-Minute Walk Test)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: March 10, 2020
Footnotes
Supported by The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (grant no. 022.003.036 ). The Maastricht University Medical Center+ financed the cycling equipment. None of these organizations played a role during any stage of the trial: the execution, analyses, or the reporting.
Clinical Trial Registration No.: NTR3766
Disclosures: none.
Identification
Copyright
© 2020 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine
