Investigation of physical performance, functional status, walking and balance parameters in knee osteoarthritis patients

This study was performed to investigate the physical performance, functional status, walking and balance parameters of individuals with phase 2 and phase 3 level knee OA respect to healthy individuals. In the study, 17 woman with knee OA at phase 2 (average age 49,24±8,22), 17 woman with knee OA at phase 3 (average age 45,47±4,27) and 34 healthy woman (average age 47,35±6,73) were included (a total of 68 woman) according to ACR criteria (American College Rheumatology). Individuals with knee OA at phase 2 and phase 3 refer to working group and 34 healthy individuals refer to control group. Pain Intensity (Visual Analog Scale), Q angle, range of motion (goniometer), physical performance tests (sit to stand test, timed-up & go test, 20 m walking test), life quality (Nottingham Health Profile), functional status, (WOMAC Osteoartrit Index), balance (Berg Balance Scale) and walking parameter measurement (Zebris-FDM-2 platform) evaluations were made to all individuals after registering demographic information. When working group and control group is compared; statistically significant difference is found for working group in terms of pain magnitude, range of motion, physical performance tests, balance, life quality, functional status and walking parameters. Moreover, when individuals with knee OA at phase 2 and at phase 3 is compared; statistically significant difference is found for phase 2 individuals in terms of pain magnitude and life quality pain sub-scale. The results of this study showed that individuals with knee OA has negative effect on their health related with pain, functional status and life quality when compared to healthy individuals but individuals with knee OA at different phases has similar measurement results except pain evaluations related with life quality. This study has importance by showing that daily lives of individuals with knee OA is affected negatively in different dimensions when compared to healthy individuals. Therefore; taking individual-specific model into consideration rather than illness model will be more beneficial during the stages of patient evaluation scale selection and planning of treatment period.