Home exercises can effectively ease knee pain caused by cartilage tears and arthritis, apparently with or without physical therapy, a new study says.
The stretching and strengthening exercises provided about the same amount of pain relief whether or not a person got real or sham physical therapy, researchers reported Oct. 29 in The New England Journal of Medicine.
“On average, participants in all groups reported moderately severe pain at the start of the study and much milder pain three, six and 12 months later,” lead researcher Dr. Jeffrey Katz said in a news release. He’s clinical director of the Orthopedic and Arthritis Center for Outcomes Research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
As many as 40% of middle-aged folks and 80% of those with knee arthritis have tears in their knee cartilage, which is called the meniscus, researchers said in background notes.
For the study, nearly 900 people with an average age of 59 were randomly assigned to one of three groups. The patients all had knee pain, arthritis and a meniscus tear.
One group took part in a 25-minute home exercise program four times a week, guided by a video and pamphlets. The second and third groups got home exercise plus either real or placebo physical therapy.
