PainRelief.com Interview with:
Tom Arild Torstensen
Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society
Division of Physiotherapy, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden, and
Holten Institute, Stockholm, Sweden 

PainRelief.com: What are the main findings?
Response: The results from our study (1) show that both high-dose and low-dose exercise therapy is beneficial for knee osteoarthritis. At a glance, it would be natural to think that I should choose a low-dose because it takes only 30 minutes and consists of 5 different exercises compared to the high-dose lasting 70 to 90 minutes consisting of 11 exercises. But because our study was designed as a superiority trial, meaning that even though we failed to show that high-dose treatment is superior to low-dose, our results do not imply that a low-dose exercise regimen is as beneficial as a high-dose regimen. 

Both groups improved over time, but there were no benefits of high-dose therapy in most comparisons. One exception was the KOOS score function in sports and recreation, where high-dose therapy was superior at the end of treatment and the 6-month follow-up. A small benefit in QoL at 6 months was also observed. Notably, most variables numerically favored the high-dose group, albeit not in a statistically or clinically meaningful way.

Last Updated on February 3, 2023 by PainRelief.com