Examination of the Patient with Knee Osteoarthritis

Patients with knee OA have a wide variety of presentations, making it a disorder that is best addressed with strong clinical reasoning and high differential diagnosis skills. Despite a compelling body of literature for physical therapy directed exercise programs and growing evidence that manual therapy combined with exercise increases the level of symptom relief and functional benefit, most patients do not receive physical therapy treatment prior to total joint replacement.

This course series will help the learner make accurate judgments on the patient with knee OA, like tolerance for examination and treatment, while identifying key impairments to strength, range of motion, flexibility, gait, and balance that can be addressed with manual therapy and exercise.

This installment will help the learner take information derived from the patient interview to plan and execute an appropriate and well-tolerated examination. This carefully planned examination is key to identifying key impairments to strength, range of motion, flexibility, gait, and balance that can be addressed with manual physical therapy strategies. This clinical reasoning-based process facilitates highly focused examination and treatment strategies that are typically well tolerated by the patient.