Patients seek treatment from chiropractors for osteoarthritis (OA) and Knee OA (KOA). Significant KOA impacts 10 % of individuals aged ≥63 particularly with radiographic changes; and by age 65, 80% have these x-ray changes. KOA may be the largest cause of decreased mobility, function, disability and pain in people aged ≥ 50 in the US. KOA causes 30% \> age 60 to experience decreased social activities of daily living, increased cardiovascular risk, increased fall risk and secondary depression. Overall KOA prevalence is 4% in young adults, 85% in those \> 75. Beyond great personal suffering - in the US, annual financial costs associated with OA were $60 billion per year in 2000 and, for all OA and rheumatic disease $128 billion in 2003. Estimates in 2005 were 27 million people suffer significantly due to OA and by 2020 in the US and other developed nations \> 12 million will suffer serious, and 19 million minor to moderate work or activity related disability from OA and KOA, with the highest prevalence expected in women.
Medical care commonly prescribed for KOA is lifestyle accommodation (decreased activity, a cane, high chairs and toilet seats, etc), non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS), anti-arthritics, steroids, various and sundry prescription and non-prescription oral and topical medications and exercise. Randomized controlled trials (RCTS) support exercise for KOA treatment, proven superior to placebo. At least 50% (and periodically up to 90 percent) of KOA patients regularly use NSAIDs. Frequent minor but intermittently serious gastrointestinal and cardiovascular adverse reactions to chronic use of NSAIDS occur, and there is evidence that using exercise/rehabilitation with or without manipulative (MAN) therapy may give safer, similar or equivalent relief. Supported by earlier RCTs, MAN therapy with and without soft tissue and exercise therapy for KOA appears superior to placebo and equal or superior to exercise. Although Chiropractic has conducted and published two RCTs of manipulative therapy for KOA, the profession has not yet conducted an RCT with combined full kinetic chain MAN therapy, soft tissue and rehabilitation versus standard care (rehabilitation or exercise therapy) nor studied optimum dose for various patients. 1). in effect only 1 study of such combined care (MAN therapy, soft tissue and rehabilitation or exercise therapy) exists; 2) more studies of MAN therapy combined with rehabilitation are needed to establish: a). equivalent or b). superior treatment efficacy with full kinetic chain therapy and to c). use 'dose time to response' techniques to study the optimum number of treatments for various patients and (to help determine who will respond and will not respond and why) and d)collect data to develop future cost effective research.
Significant morbidity and occasional mortality from NSAID and drug-related complications and surgery; difficulty in obtaining compliance with prolonged exercise protocols; apparent similar, equivalent or superior outcomes (manipulative therapy with and without, but possibly superior with, combined rehabilitation) in pain relief, mobility and function; the possibility of decreasing falls with their appalling sequela in morbidity, mortality and expense; justifies further research into multimodal manipulative therapy for treatment of KOA. Data suggests such full kinetic chain MAN therapy with rehabilitation may give earlier, effective, less costly outcomes and reflects a common clinical chiropractic approach to KOA. In addition to the knee joint, KOA disability has been demonstrated to be significantly worsened by hip joint dysfunction, for example restricted hip flexion increases KOA pain and dysfunction; and there are similar associations throughout the full kinetic chain for example lumbosacral spine joint dysfunction may increase knee pain and dysfunction. Manipulative therapy applied appropriately to the full, kinetic chain (to the full axial and appendicular skeleton -the spine and extremities) combined with rehabilitation may be a superior treatment for knee OA.
