Abstract
The effectiveness of adjunct cryotherapy along with an exercise on somatic symptoms in patients with knee osteoarthritis – a randomized controlled trial
- College of Nursing, University of Duhok, Kurdistan Region, Iraq
Introduction
Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a common joint condition associated with aging, leading to pain, functional limitations, disability, and reduced quality of life. This clinical randomized controlled trial aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a cryotherapy intervention in combination with a home-based conventional exercise (HBE) program in reducing somatic symptoms in patients with KOA.
Material and methods
Patients diagnosed with KOA were randomly assigned to 2 groups: an experimental group (n = 16) receiving HBE with cryotherapy and a control group (n = 15) receiving HBE alone for 2 months.
Results
The results showed that patients in the HBE with cryotherapy group had significantly lower scores on somatic symptoms (SDS) compared to those in the HBE group (2.00 vs. 4.53; mean difference: –2.53, 95% CI: –4.50 to –0.57) with a large effect size (Cohen’s d: 0.94). Additionally, both the HBE and HBE with cryotherapy groups exhibited a significant decrease in SDS scores, 20.87–4.53 and 18.75–2.00, respectively (p < 0.001).
Conclusions
This study showed that combining HBE with cryotherapy is an effective approach for improving somatic symptoms in patients with KOA.
Keywords
somatic symptoms, quality of life, complementary therapy
Coverage in
Integrated with
