The effect of Ai Chi aquatic therapy on individuals with knee osteoarthritis: a pilot study.
Billy C L So, Iris S Y Kong, Roy K L Lee and 4 others
PMID 28603365WHAT IT FOUND
Five weeks of a supervised water-based Ai Chi program improved reported pain, stiffness, and physical function difficulty in people with knee osteoarthritis, but did not improve walking distance, knee position sense, objective range of motion, or general health scores.
Key findings
01Aggravating pain during activities improved significantly from 6.04 to 3.04 on the 0 to 10 scale.
02WOMAC pain improved 48%, stiffness improved 40%, and physical function improved 31%.
03Walking distance, knee position sense, most range-of-motion measures, and SF-12 physical and mental health scores did not improve significantly.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
No control group was used. The improvements cannot be attributed to Ai Chi alone. The sample was a small pilot, so the study had limited power. Participants were recruited by convenience sampling from a YMCA and private clinics. The paper describes knee osteoarthritis as common among the elderly, but participants had to be under 65. The six-minute walk test was done in an 8-metre hallway instead of the recommended 30 metres. Many participants had near-normal knee range of motion at baseline. The paper says they had little scope for benefitting from the intervention. Mental health scores were already near healthy averages. The paper says the potential for improvement was limited. The program combined warm water, buoyancy, hydrostatic pressure, movement patterns, breathing coordination, and physiotherapist supervision. The contribution of any single component cannot be separated. Outcomes were measured only at baseline and after the course, except aggravating pain, which was also measured halfway through. 3 participants reported very mild knee pain while performing patterns 13 and 16.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude Ai Chi is proven to reduce knee osteoarthritis pain or improve function. The study had no control group, used a small pilot sample, and delivered several components together, including warm water, buoyancy, hydrostatic pressure, movement patterns, breathing coordination, and physiotherapist supervision. The contribution of Ai Chi itself cannot be separated from those components.