Group Education and Exercise Program for Overweight Knee Osteoarthritic Patients

Objective: To study the benefits of patient education and an exercise program for the overweight knee osteoarthritis (OA) patients. Methods: Group education (GE) was arranged for overweight patients for 2 weeks including how to use their joints properly in their daily activities, how to calculate energy of various kinds of food as well as performing controlled group exercise. Each parameter was evaluated at three time points including before joining GE, after 2 weeks of attending GE and 3 months later. The outcomes were determined by the knowledge score about the disease, gait speed calculated from a 50-meter walk, knee pain score after walking, body weight and quadriceps strength. Results: Eighty-seven subjects were recruited, 11 males (12.6%) and 76 females (87.4%) with a mean age of 59.5 ± 7.6 years, and an average body mass index of 27.5 ± 3.5 kg/m2. The duration of disease was 4.6 ± 4.7 years. Most subjects (79.3%) have good compliance on performing exercise with an average 9.15 ± 1.46 days (range 3-10). The knowledge score before and after attending the group education were 35.1 ± 4.2 and 38.1 ± 4.9, respectively (p < 0.001). After two weeks, their body weight and pain score decreased whereas quadriceps strength and gait speed increased. Those outcomes were even better at the 3-month follow up period. Conclusion: GE, comprised of providing appropriate knowledge, sharing ideas among groups, learning about diet and daily exercise for 2 weeks which can significantly increase knowledge scores, decrease knee pain and body weight, as well as increase quadriceps strength and gait speed.