Effects of Resistance Training on Older Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis

 

Effects of Resistance Training on Older Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis

December 6, 2022

Do you have pain or issues with your knee’s doing everyday activities? Depending on your age you might have early onset of knee osteoarthritis. As we age our body starts to break down due to all the stress, we put on ourselves especially our knees.  This stress creates problems like pain and limited function, as people get older their quality-of-life diminish.

This might seem alarming when you hear this can happen to you as we age, but don’t become alarmed. The good news is, there have been studies that have shown that resistance training can reduce the effects of knee osteoarthritis and improve quality-of-life.

Introduction

Knee osteoarthritis is a very common condition that is rising in the United States, especially in the older populations. It was estimated that around 14 million people in this country has this condition, over the age of 50. An important fact to mention about this condition is there is not a cure yet. So, there are currently many treatments already out there, but they are proven to be ineffective after a certain period.

When you mention resistance training to the older population, they tend to get scared due to the fact they could possibly get injured while exercising or exercising may take too much time out of there day. But there is various exercise that are safe for them to preform, which also don’t take much time for them to complete. 

Evidence-based points

After looking through multiple studies about knee osteoarthritis, there is important information that needs to be stated about this condition. The most important points are:

• Women are more likely than men to develop knee osteoarthritis, especially after they reach the age of 50.

• This condition is caused by many thing which in being obese, weight-bearing stress, and other things     such as joint injuries from sports or accidents. There isn’t one primary cause, but these are factors are the reason millions of older people develop this condition.

• It’s recommended that older adults work out for 30 minutes and preform 3 sets of 10 reptations of         each exercise. As they get used to the weight, they can increase it at their own pace.

• Overall, patients that followed their given exercise protocol significantly less pain, and even improve

    other things such as muscle strength, and even stress according to the recent studies.

Practical Applications 

The main exercise that is going to help older patients with osteoarthritis the most is resistance training. Resistance training is when people use their muscles to contract against another source that creates resistance to build strength throughout the body. There are different types of methods that older people can use to achieve this types of training. These methods include:

• Weight resistance machines

• Calf or ankle weights

• Various free weights such as dumbbells or squatting bars

• Resistance bands

Going along with these methods there are also certain exercises that older people have

to do to reduce their knee osteoarthritis. Most of these workouts consist of various lower body exercise to work different part of the lower extremities to achieve a better quality of life. Also as mentioned before it is recommended that people workout at least 3 to 4 times a week, while completing 3 sets of 10 reptations of each exercise. Exercises recommended to reduce knee osteoarthritis include:

• Leg curls

• Knee extension/flextion

• Hip abduction/adduction 

• Hamstring/knee curls

• Straight leg raise

• Calf raises 

Summary

These are just a few methods on how older people can reduce the effects of knee osteoarthritis as we age. It is imperative that everyone tries these exercise because there is no effective cure to get rid of this condition. Scientist have found another temporary fix in which they do a knee replacements on certain individuals, but it has been proven that patients start to feel the same pain after only a few months from the surgery. Scientist also have been looking into anti-inflammatory drugs to try to reduce effects but as of now this method is still years away from becoming practical medicine. As of right now this is the best treatment, and who doesn’t like to work out right!

Resources for Audience (live links)

For those interested in more tips on strengthening your knee joints, go to this link that include tips, different exercises, and how to protect yourself while training.

https://careasone.com/blog/10-best-knee-strengthening-exercises-for-seniors/

For those interested on ways to prevent knee osteoarthritis from developing in the first place, please follow this link.

https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?contenttypeid=1&contentid=1411

About the Author:

Angel Reyes is a senior at Westfield State University studying Sports Medicine. He plans on pursuing a career in occupational therapy in which he wants to help the elderly population. Angel is an honor roll student that has been on the Dean’s list every semester since freshman year, and a member of the Health Professions Club on campus. Angel can be reached at gabereyes1330@gmail.com for more personal information about the topic.

References:

 Bennell KL;Hunt MA;Wrigley TV;Hunter DJ;McManus FJ;Hodges PW;Li L;Hinman RS; (n.d.). Hip strengthening reduces symptoms but not knee load in people with medial knee osteoarthritis and varus malalignment: A randomised controlled trial. Osteoarthritis and cartilage. Retrieved December 8, 2022, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20175973/

 

Bruce-Brand, R. A., Walls, R. J., Ong, J. C., Emerson, B. S., O’Byrne, J. M., & Moyna, N. M. (2012, July 3). Effects of home-based resistance training and neuromuscular electrical stimulation in knee osteoarthritis: A randomized controlled trial - BMC musculoskeletal disorders. BioMed Central. Retrieved December 8, 2022, from https://bmcmusculoskeletdisord.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2474-13-118

 

Ciolac, E. G., Silva, J. M. R. da, & Greve, J. M. D. A. (2015, January 1). Effects of resistance training in older women with knee osteoarthritis and total knee arthroplasty. Clinics. Retrieved November 3, 2022, from https://www.scielo.br/j/clin/a/LqSXnTJjsXxJdSqqSGNtSsw/?lang=en

Joshua N. Farr, Scott B. Going, Patrick E. McKnight, Shelley Kasle, Ellen C. Cussler, Michelle Cornett, Progressive Resistance Training Improves Overall Physical Activity Levels in Patients With Early Osteoarthritis of the Knee: A Randomized Controlled Trial, Physical Therapy, Volume 90, Issue 3, 1 March 2010, Pages 356–366, https://doi.org/10.2522/ptj.20090041

Marius Henriksen, Louise Klokker, Thomas Graven-Nielsen, Cecilie Bartholdy, Tanja Schjødt Jørgensen, Elisabeth Bandak, Bente Danneskiold-Samsøe, Robin Christensen, Henning Bliddal. (n.d.). Association of Exercise Therapy and reduction of ... - Wiley Online Library. Retrieved December 8, 2022, from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/acr.22375