title: A four-week walking exercise programme in patients with knee osteoarthritis improves the ability of dual-task performance: a randomized controlled trial.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate whether a four-week walking exercise programme in patients with knee osteoarthritis improves the ability of dual-task performance in older adults with knee osteoarthritis.
  
  
  METHODS
  A randomized controlled trial with two groups: a walking group and a control group.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty older adults with knee osteoarthritis, 20 participants in each group.
  
  
  METHODS
  The walking intervention was designed to increase the number of steps walked daily. The walking group was instructed to increase their number of steps to 3000 steps more than before the intervention.
  
  
  METHODS
  Dual-task performance was computed by an automaticity index: the walking velocity under single-task condition/under dual-task conditions × 100 (%), defined as automaticity. The nearer to 100% automaticity, the better the dual-task performance. Decrease of the Trail Making Test (TMT) performance was defined as ΔTMT. ΔTMT was calculated as the difference between times (part B-part A) as a measure of executive function. In addition, functional ability was measured by the Japanese Knee Osteoarthritis Measure.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The walking group improved significantly in automaticity (P < 0.001, from 75.2 (7.6) to 86.9 (10.4), ΔTMT (P < 0.001, from 63.4 (43.1) to 48.3 (29.6)) and Japanese Knee Osteoarthritis Measure score (P < 0.001, from 54.4 to 51.9) compared with before the intervention, while the control group displayed no significant differences.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We found that walking exercise improves executive function and dual-task performance.
authors: Anshin Clinic, Chuo-ku, Kobe-city, Hyogo, Japan. yoshinori.hiyama@gmail.com
authors: Yoshinori
authors: Y
authors: Hiyama
authors: Minoru
authors: M
authors: Yamada
authors: Akira
authors: A
authors: Kitagawa
authors: Norihiro
authors: N
authors: Tei
authors: Shuichi
authors: S
authors: Okada
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D056344:Executive Function; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D020370:Osteoarthritis, Knee / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D016138:Walking