Introduction: Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common joint and musculoskeletal disease that afflicts more women than men. People with this disease suffer from quadriceps muscles weakness and knee proprioception deficits, so some impairments occur in their static and dynamic balance . Previous studies have demonstrated that exercises can prevent the progression of knee osteoarthritis . The aim of this study was to determine the effect of aquatic and land balance-strengthening exercises on balance among women with knee osteoarthritis.
Methodology: 60 adults women with unilateral, 1 grade or 2 grade knee OA were randomly assigned in to three groups (aquatic exercise group, land exercise group and control group). Participants in the exercise groups performed balance-strengthening exercises for six week (three session every week). Subject`s balance measured by Berg Balance Scale (BBS). Paired t-test was used to compare changes within groups and co-variance analysis was used to compare balance between the groups after six weeks (P<0.05).
Results: Statically significant improvements were observed post exercise for the exercises group in the balance scores and there was a significant difference between the balance score in aquatic exercise and land exercise groups. The results of this study showed that significantly better results were achieved for balance score in the aquatic exercise group than land exercise group.
Discussion: Due to results carried out balance-strengthening exercises in water or on land can improve balance in women with knee osteoarthritis and carried out these exercises in water because of creating a major challenge of the balance control systems, can improve balance scores and reduce risk of falling down more than carried out these exercises on land.