Investigation of clinical effects of high- and low-resistance training for patients with knee osteoarthritis: a randomized controlled trial.
OBJECTIVE
Muscle strength training is important for people with knee osteoarthritis (OA). High-resistance exercise has been demonstrated to be more beneficial than low-resistance exercise for young subjects. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of high- and low-resistance strength training in elderly subjects with knee OA.


METHODS
One hundred two subjects were randomly assigned to groups that received 8 weeks of high-resistance exercise (HR group), 8 weeks of low-resistance exercise (LR group), or no exercise (control group). Pain, function, walking time, and muscle torque were examined before and after intervention.


RESULTS
Significant improvement for all measures was observed in both exercise groups. There was no significant difference in any measures between HR and LR groups. However, based on effect size between exercise and control groups, the HR group improved more than the LR group.


CONCLUSIONS
Both high- and low-resistance strength training significantly improved clinical effects in this study. The effects of high-resistance strength training appear to be larger than those of low-resistance strength training for people with mild to moderate knee OA, although the differences between the HR and LR groups were not statistically significant.
Jan
Mei-Hwa
MH
Medical College, School and Graduate Institute of Physical Therapy, National Taiwan University, and Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei Hsien, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Lin
Jiu-Jeng
JJ
Liau
Jiann-Jong
JJ
Lin
Yeong-Fwu
YF
Lin
Da-Hon
DH
D000368:Aged; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020370:Osteoarthritis, Knee / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D010147:Pain Measurement; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular; D020127:Recovery of Function; D016138:Walking