Effect of Antigravity Treadmill in Knee Osteoarthritis (AGTreadmill)

Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University40 enrolled

Overview

To date, the anti-gravity treadmill, as a representative method of lower body positive pressure treadmills, has been rarely reported for knee osteoarthritis rehabilitation. Purpose: This study aims to evaluate the effect of antigravity treadmill training on pain, gait characteristics, and function in patients with knee osteoarthritis.

The study included 40 patients with knee osteoarthritis who were randomly assigned to one of two groups: the antigravity treadmill group (n=20) or the control group (n=20 ). For 12 weeks, the antigravity treadmill group received training on the Alter G treadmill (75% weight-bearing, 30 minutes per session, three times per week) combined with traditional physical therapy. During the same period, the control group received only traditional physical therapy. The Visual Analogue Scale, Walkway System, and the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index were used to assess pain, spatiotemporal gait parameters, and patient function, respectively. All outcome measures were obtained pretreatment, post-treatment, and 3 months follow-up assessment.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

DOUBLE

Enrollment

Conditions

Knee Osteoarthritis

Interventions

antigravity treadmillOTHER

An Alter G treadmill (Alter G Pro 200, Alter G Inc, USA) was used to provide training to the patients in the antigravity treadmill group. The Alter G allows the patient to change their body weight from 20% to 100% in 1% increments. The air pressure inside the lower body positive pressure chamber can be adjusted from 0 to 2.0 kilopascal above atmospheric pressure. They are very comfortable to train in for long periods of time and have simple controls for adjusting body weight, speed, and inclination.

physical therapy exercise programOTHER

Both groups received the same traditional physical therapy program for 12 weeks, three times a week, for 30 min each. The conventional physical therapy treatment consisted of acupuncture transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, Hot moist pack, Ultrasound and quadriceps setting

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 50 YearsMax age: 70 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Patients should: (1) be ≥50 years old * Patients have been diagnosed with mild to moderate osteoarthritis by a physician and confirmed by radiograph imaging (Kellgren \& Lawrence grade 1-3) * Patients complain of knee pain during the past 30 days when walking, squatting, and/or kneeling (the minimum level 3/10 on visual analogue scale before inclusion) * Patients' body mass index greater than 30. Exclusion criteria * Patients were excluded if they have a history of ankle, knee, or hip injury or medical operation * Have used knee injection for their knee osteoarthritis pain within the past year * Have a history of other medical conditions that would interfere with walking * Received physical therapy during the past 3 months for knee osteoarthritis * Had any metabolic, pulmonary, neuromuscular, neurological, and/or autoimmune disease.

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Assessment of patient pain

The visual analogue scale is a reliable, valid, responsive, and frequently used pain outcome measure. It consists of a bidirectional 10 cm straight line with two labels, that is, "no pain" and "worst possible pain", located at either end of the line. Patients are instructed to draw a vertical mark on the line indicating their pain level.