Comparative investigation of effect of 6 weeks exercise and acupuncture on pain, and joint dysfunction and quality of life inpatients with knee osteoarthritis in Sports Medicine clinics

:Background Purpose: Comparative investigation of effect of 6 weeks exercise and acupuncture on pain, and joint dysfunction and quality of life in patients with knee osteoarthritis in Sports Medicine clinics. Materials and methods: This study was a quasi-experimental study. The population consisted of patients with chronic (over 3 months), mild to moderate knee pain due to osteoarthritis of the knee referred to the Sari sports medicine clinic. The sampling method was convenient. The treatment allocation method was non-randomized. The participants were studied in two groups. Group 1 was physical therapy and group 2 was acupuncture. The treatments were carried out of 6 weeks, assessment tools were WOMAC Questionnaire, Sit Up Test and SF36 questionnaire(measuring Quality of Life). SPSS 20 software was used for statistical analysis. Level of statistical significance was considered P-Value 0.05. Results: In exercise therapy group, the mean scores of the Sit up test, before (4.3) and after (6.93) of the treatment were different (p =0.001). A similar condition (4.29 vs 6.23) was found for acupuncture group (p =0.001). After treatment, two study groups showed no difference(p=0.058). In exercise therapy group, the mean score of WOMAC test totally (3.18 vs 1.37) and in subscales of pain (3.20 vs 1.34), stiffness (3.31vs 1.63),and physical function (3.16vs 1.35)significantly decreased following the treatment(p 0.001). For acupuncture group a similar condition was seen totally (3.248 vs 1.92),pain (3.21 vs 1.79), stiffness (3.22 vs 1.70) and physical function (3.25 vs 1.98). In comparison, the acupuncture individuals showed more improvement after treatment (p 0.001). Separately, within each study group, all dimensions of quality of life had a significant improvement following the treatment(p 0.001). In comparison, the individuals who taken exercise therapy, reported more improvement in all dimensions apart from role of limitation due to emotional problems. Conclusion: It seems 6 weeks of exercise therapy and acupuncture, separately, can apparently improve the parameters of pain, joint dysfunction, physical and mental quality of the patients with knee osteoarthritis. So, these procedures are suggested as non-pharmacological treatment for knee osteoarthritis