Comparison of the Effects of Acupuncture and Isometric Exercises on Symptom of Knee Osteoarthritis

Background: the investigation and comparison of the effects ofacupuncture and isometric exercises on pain and quality of life inpatients suffering from knee osteoarthritis (oa).oa is the most common form of joint disease and one leading cause ofdisability in the elderly. the symptoms of oa are pain, morning stiffness,and joint limited motion. different treatments have been proposed formanagement of oa, but the results are not clear. we studied the effectsof acupuncture and isometric exercises on symptoms of the knee oa.methods: forty patients with knee oa according to, american collegeof rheumatology criteria were recruited using strict inclusion andexclusion criteria. all the patients were randomly divided into twogroups (a and b).the acupuncture group (a) received only acupunctureat selected acupoint for knee pain. the exercise group (b) receivedisometric exercise of the knee. each group received treatment 12sessions for 4 weeks. evaluating measuring tools were pain intensity andfunction was measured with knee injury and oa outcome score (koos)questionnaire.results: after treatment, acupuncture and in isometric exercise groupsreported that koos increased significantly (improvement) in quality oflife score as shown (p value < 0.05). vas of acupuncture group changedfrom 7.25 ± 0.91 to 5.41 ± 1.23.in additions, vas in isometric exercisegroup changed from 7.85 ± 1.35 to 5.34 ± 1.26. total koos scoreshave not shown significant difference in comparative with exercisegroup (p value > 0.11).conclusions: both acupuncture and isometric exercises decrease painand increase quality of life in patients who suffer from oa.