Treatment 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 clinical reasoning-based process facilitates highly focused treatment strategies that are typically well tolerated by the patient.

This installment will help the learner take information derived from the patient interview and manual examination to plan and execute an appropriate and well-tolerated intervention. Participants will develop clinical reasoning strategies to plan, prioritize, and execute a well-tolerated manual physical therapy intervention. Specific topics covered include prescription of exercise to enforce manual treatment, employing maintenance or tune-up physical therapy sessions, and prescribing and fitting a stationary bicycle.