Neuromuscular proprioceptive facilitation in older adults with knee osteoarthritis

Abstract

Introduction: Knee osteoarthritis, a common disease that affects the joint, product of biomechanical stress, causing pain, joint stiffness and decreased functional capacity in older adults, therefore it is important to apply proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation techniques (FNP).

Objective: To apply PNF to improve muscle condition in older adults with knee osteoarthritis.

Materials and method. A quasi-experimental investigation was carried out, with a population of 26 adults between 60 and 70 years of age from the day gerontological center of the Municipal GAD of the Colta canton, the treatment was to apply the FNP technique such as, rhythmic initiation, isotonic combination, inversion of antagonists and repetition, the information was collected in a WOMAC survey, with analysis in the SPSS statistical package and through the WILLCOXON test.

Results: In pain, in the first evaluation 100% of patients presented some scale of pain, on the other hand, in the second evaluation 26.9% presented little pain. In joint stiffness, it went from 100% of the patients with some difficulty in joint stiffness to 61.5% with little joint stiffness. And of the 100% of the patients who presented some difficulty in the functional capacity, it went to 15.4% of the patients with little difficulty in the functional capacity. To evaluate the effectiveness of the technique, the WILCOXON test was applied with a significance of 0.5, with a confidence level of 95%, in this case the significant difference is P = 0.000, that is, the null hypothesis was rejected.

Conclusion: When applying a PNF exercise routine in older adults, improvements in knee osteoarthritis, pain, joint stiffness and functional capacity were evidenced, through evaluations carried out before and after the intervention.