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Background and Purpose. No detailed exercise programs specifically for patients with hip osteoarthritis (OA) have been described in the literature. This lack of data creates a gap between the recommendation that people with OA should exercise and the type and dose of exercises that they should perform. The purpose of this case report is to describe and demonstrate the use of a therapeutic exercise program for a patient with hip OA. Case Description. A 58-year-old woman with hip OA completed a 12-week therapeutic exercise program (TEP) with a 6-month follow-up. The patient reported hip pain, joint stiffness, and limited physical function, and she had decreased hip range of motion (ROM) at baseline. Outcomes. The patient performed 19 sessions during the TEP, with a mean of 19.5 exercises per session. She increased the resistance in 3 of 5 strength (force-generating capacity) training exercises and achieved the highest degree of difficulty in all functional exercises. During the TEP and follow-up, the patient reported improvements in pain, joint stiffness, and physical function. Performance improved on the following physical tests: isokinetic peak torque strength (60[degrees]/s) in hip extension (40%), hip flexion (27%), knee extension (17%), and knee flexion (42%); hip ROM extension (8[degrees]); and 6-minute walk distance (83 m). Discussion. The patient experienced less pain and improved physical function and physical test outcomes after intervention and at the 6-month follow-up. The main challenges when prescribing an exercise program for a patient with hip OA are monitoring the exercises to provide improvements without provoking persistent pain and motivating the patient to achieve long-term adherence to exercising. Randomized clinical trials are needed to evaluate the efficacy of this TEP in patients with hip OA., Nonoperative management of osteoarthritis (OA) has been suggested to prevent or delay the impact of disability, and interventions such as patient education and exercise have been recommended as the first [...]

Background and Purpose. Physical therapists have an important role in the management of clinical knee osteoarthritis (OA) through designing and supervising exercise programs. This study explored whether their current use of therapeutic exercise for patients with this condition is in line with recent recommendations. Subjects and Methods. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with a random sample of chartered (licensed) physical therapists (N = 2,000) practicing in the United Kingdom. This survey included a vignette describing a patient with clinical knee OA as well as clinical management questions relating to the respondents' use of therapeutic exercise. Results. The questionnaire response rate was 58% (n = 1,152), with 538 respondents stating they had treated a patient with clinical knee OA in the preceding 6 months. In line with recent recommendations, 99% of the physical therapists stated they would use therapeutic exercise for this patient population, although strengthening exercises were favored over aerobic exercises. Although nearly all physical therapists would monitor exercise adherence, only 12% would use an exercise diary. Seventy-six percent of physical therapists would provide up to 5 treatment sessions, and only 34% would offer physical therapy follow-up after discharge. Discussion and Conclusions. The measure of physical therapists' current clinical practice was self-reported clinical behavior on the basis of a vignette. Although this is a valid measure of clinical behavior, in practice, physical therapists may use therapeutic exercise differently. There are disparities between physical therapists' current use of therapeutic exercise for clinical knee OA and recent recommendations. Identifying potential ways to overcome these disparities is an important step toward optimizing the outcome from therapeutic exercise for patients with clinical knee OA., Therapeutic Exercise for Knee Osteoarthritis Knee pain attributable to osteorthritis (OA) is a common disabling problem in older adults (1) and will increase in prevalence as the population ages (2) [...]

QUESTION In patients with osteoarthritis of the knee, is hyaluronic acid effective in relieving symptoms? DESIGN Randomized (unclear allocation concealment), blinded, placebo-controlled trial with 6-month follow-up. SETTING A hospital outpatient [...]