BACKGROUND: Working with lifting and carrying heavy loads and kneeling postures with crawling, squats or heel seat position lead to progressive cartilage wear with premature degenerative changes. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of the exercise based multimodal ‘knee college’ and its sustainability in patients with knee osteoarthritis with data assessments before and after a starter course, before a 1-year and a 2-year follow-up refresher course in a retrospective observational study. METHODS: A sample of 401 male patients (ICD10: M17 [arthrosis of knee]/ICF: s75011 [knee joint) from the construction industries were assessed with Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), EuroQol (EQ-5D), Performance Assessment Capacity Testing (PACT), Isokinetic torque H/Q ratio and Physical Work Capacity Test (PWC). Retrospectively, after two years they were divided into three groups based on their intermediate sporting activity: gym (n = 194, age = 50.8±7.0, BMI = 28.8±4,3), home training (n = 110, age: 50.2±7.0, BMI: 28.4±4,2), no exercising (n = 97, age: 48.2±7.0, BMI: 29.2±4,6). RESULTS: Patients did not differ significantly in their demographic and anthropometric data prior to the rehab program. Significant interaction effects indicated group-dependent differing sustainability effects for the 2-year follow-up (all outcomes: p < 0.001, except for H/Q ratio: p = 0.03). Group-wise analyses revealed significant acute improvements (after 3-week in-patient starter rehab program: p < 0.05) for all groups in almost all outcomes (except the ‘no sport’ group, H/Q ratio p = 0.08). These effects remained significant (p < 0.001) only for the ‘gym’ group during the 1-year and 2-year follow-up. CONCLUSION: Our data indicate that 2-year sustainability of acute rehabilitation starter effects was demonstrated especially for patients with adherence and compliance to long-term gym based exercises.
As part of the aftercare, financially supported training in a fitness center with accompanying regular telephone contacts for male construction workers with knee discomforts shows positive effects if the participation is voluntary. Organized training in the fitness center is superior to individual home programs.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.