Blood Flow Restriction Exercises and Conservative Exercises in Knee Osteoarthritis

Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a rheumatic disease that causes serious cartilage damage in the knee joint. Moderate physical activity can slow cartilage degeneration in moderate OA stages. Remarkable weakness and atrophy of the quadriceps and hamstrings is a common problem in patients with chronic osteoarthritis, but in arthritis, it may be difficult to achieve strength gains due to the pain caused by heavy load-resistant exercises. Exercising with these high loads may not be possible or may injure painful arthritic knees. For this reason, lately, blood flow restriction exercises have been directed to achieve the same gain by exercising with lower loads by restricting the blood flow with a cuff. We aimed to limit the blood flow in osteoarthritic knees and to provide strength gain and pain reduction provided by conventional exercises given routinely. Our hypothesis in this study is that exercises that blood flow restriction exercises will reduce pain and increase strength as well as conventional exercises.

Knee osteoarthritis is a rheumatic disease that causes serious cartilage damage in the knee joint. Moderate physical activity can slow cartilage degeneration in moderate OA stages. Remarkable weakness and atrophy of the quadriceps and hamstrings is a common problem in patients with chronic osteoarthritis, but in arthritis, it may be difficult to achieve strength gains due to the pain caused by heavy load-resistant exercises. Exercising with these high loads may not be possible or may injure painful arthritic knees. For this reason, lately, blood flow restricting exercises have been directed to achieve the same gain by exercising with lower loads by restricting the blood flow with a cuff. We aimed to limit the blood flow in osteoarthritic knees and to provide strength gain and pain reduction provided by conventional exercises given routinely. Our hypothesis in this study is that exercises that limit blood flow will reduce pain and increase strength as well as conventional exercises. Forty patients diagnosed with knee osteoarthritis by X-ray will be included in the study. Grade II-III (high rate of exercise therapy) individuals according to the Kellgren Lawrence classification will be included. Patients diagnosed with orthopedics and traumatology will be randomly divided into two groups according to the order of entry through the door. Conventional Exercises that increase muscle strength, flexibility and reduce pain will be included in the first group. In the second group, the same exercises will be used, but during the application, a cuff will be placed on the thigh and the blood flow will be prevented by inflating, therefore, exercises with lower loads will be performed. Exercises will be practiced for 12 weeks and pre-exercise results will be compared within and between groups.