COMPARISON OF CLOSED KINEMATIC CHAIN EXERCISES AND PILATES EXERCISE ON PAIN, BALANCE AND FUNCTIONAL PERFORMANCE IN OSTEOARTHRITIS KNEE

Abstract

Objective: Osteoarthritis is one of the major public health problems which causes pain, functional impairment that reduces the quality of life. In India osteoarthritis is the second most common with prevalence rate of 22% to 39%. Both closed kinematic chain exercise and Pilates exercises have been proved effective on reducing pain, improving balance and functional performance. But there is a lack of literature regarding the effect of closed kinematic chain exercises when compared to Pilates exercises. Hence the need of the study arises.

Materials and methods: Pre-test and post-test experimental study design.30 subjects with mean age of 40 -65 years of age having a clinical diagnosis of knee osteoarthritis were randomly allocated into two groups. In group I (n=15) subjects were treated with closed kinematic chain exercises, where as in group II (n=15) subjects were treated with Pilates exercises. Participants were given intervention were thrice a week for 8 weeks. The outcome measures of this intervention were measured in term of VAS for pain, Berg Balance scale for balance and WOMAC for functional performance.

Results: Statistical analysis of the data revealed that within group comparison both groups showed significant improvement in all parameters. Where as in between group comparison closed kinematic chain exercise showed better improvement compared to Pilates exercises.

Conclusion: After 8 weeks of intervention both closed kinematic chain exercise and Pilates exercises showed significant improvement on reducing pain, improving balance and functional performance. However closed kinematic chain exercises were found to be more effective when compared to pilates exercises.