Comparison of Pilates Exercises and Proprioceptive Exercises on Joint Position Sense in People with Knee Osteoarthritis

Purpose: Individuals with knee Osteoarthritis suffers from pain, joint stiffness, decreased muscle strength and proprioceptive deficits. Long term physical exercise improves Proprioception and neuromuscular control. Method: 60 subjects with bilateral knee osteoarthritis were randomly divided into 2 groups. Subjects in group A performed pilates exercise and group B performed Proprioceptive exercise for 6 weeks. Knee joint proprioception, Pain and functional disability changes from the baseline were measured. Data was analysed by using paired and unpaired t-test, wilcoxon signed rank test and Mann whitney test. Results: There was significant improvement in knee proprioception, reduction in pain and functional disability in both groups (p<0.05). But the right and left knee proprioception in group A and group B shows significant difference between them with (p<0.05), which indicates that group A had better improvement in knee proprioception The right and left knee pain and functional disability shows no significant difference (p>0.05) between group A and group B. Conclusion: Pilates exercises shows more significant improvement in knee proprioception in people with knee osteoarthritis than the proprioceptive exercises. Also pilates and proprioceptive exercises are equally effective in reduncing pain and improving functional ability in peoples with osteoarthritis