The senescence process is directly related of the increase in the incidence of
degenerative osteomioarticular pathologies, such as knee osteoarthritis (OA). This
pathology can cause changes in balance, decreasing the functional independence on
elderly and becoming a risk factor for comorbid falls. Thus, it is necessary investigate
the effectiveness of resources, such as therapeutic exercise, in order to improve the
present symptoms, reducing balance changes and guaranteeing the reduction of risks for
the elderly population. The objective of this research is to verify the effects of
therapeutic exercise on balance and risk of falls in elderly people with knee OA and the
main types of exercises used. This is a systematic review of the literature, in which a
search was performed in the MEDLINE databases via "PubMed", "Cochrane Central
Register of Controlled Trials" (CENTRAL), "Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied
Health Literature" (CINAHL) , Latin American Literature on Health Sciences and the
Caribbean (LILACS) and Embase, following the recommendations of the “Preferred
Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyzes" (PRISMA), in order to
identify all randomized and almost randomized clinical trials to analyze the therapeutic
effects of exercise on knee OA. The selected studies were evaluated using the PEDro
Scale to analyze their methodological qualities. Four studies were analyzed, these being
randomized clinical trials. The therapies used in the studies were aerobic exercise,
resistance exercise, aquatic therapy and balance training, suggesting improved balance
and risk of falls compared to control groups. The studies received a score above 5
according to the PEDro Scale, demonstrating reasonable methodological quality.
Although the results of this review demonstrate that therapeutic exercise could assist on
gaining and maintaining balance and reducing the risk of falls in elderly people with
knee OA, further studies in the elderly population are still needed to affirm its clinical
effect.
|
