Effects of a foot-ankle muscle strengthening program on pain and function in individuals with knee osteoarthritis: a...

Foot-ankle exercises could improve pain and function of individuals with KOA and need to be tested.

To investigate whether an 8-week foot-ankle muscle strengthening program is effective for individuals with KOA to reduce pain and improve function.

In this randomized controlled trial, individuals diagnosed with clinical and radiographic KOA were randomized into the intervention (supervised foot-ankle strengthening exercise program three times a week for 8 weeks) or control (usual care and recommendations of the healthcare team) group. Effectiveness was assessed by changes in clinical and functional outcomes between baseline and 8 weeks with pain as the primary outcome. ANCOVA tests using the intervention group as a reference and sex, body mass index, and baseline values as covariates assessed between-group differences.

The intervention group showed lower pain scores (-4.4 units; 95%CI = -7.5, -1.1), better function (-7.1 units; 95%CI = -12.7, -1.4), higher total functional score (-11.9 units; 95%CI = -20.7, -3.1), with confidence intervals indicating a potential for the differences to be clinically meaningful, and better scores for the 30-s chair stand test (2.7 repetitions; 95%CI = 1.1, 4.1), with a confidence interval indicating a moderate clinically meaningful difference, compared to the controls.

The 8-week foot-ankle exercise program showed positive, and potentially clinically meaningful, effects on knee pain and physical function among individuals with KOA, when compared to usual care.

NCT04154059. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04154059.