Retrospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatry. Oct 19, 2023; 13(10): 743-752
Published online Oct 19, 2023. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v13.i10.743
Clinical value of ankle flexion and extension exercises combined with a psychological intervention in knee osteoarthritis
Yang Liu, Rong Chen, Yang Zhang, Qin Wang, Jiang-Li Ren, Chang-Xu Wang, Yuan-Kun Xu
Yang Liu, Yuan-Kun Xu, Department of Orthopedics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guiyang 524000, Guizhou Province, China
Rong Chen, Yang Zhang, Department of Anesthesiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guiyang 524000, Guizhou Province, China
Qin Wang, Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guiyang 524000, Guizhou Province, China
Jiang-Li Ren, Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guiyang 524000, Guizhou Province, China
Chang-Xu Wang, Graduate School, Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guiyang 550002, Guizhou Province, China
Author contributions: Liu Y, Chen R, Zhang Y and Wang Q contributed equally to this work and are co-first authors; Liu Y, Chen R, Zhang Y and Wang Q concepted the study, supervised the study, contributed to the investigation, the visualization of the study, and originally drafted the manuscript; Xu YK collected the data; Wang CX contributed to the formal analysis; Liu Y, Chen R, Zhang Y, Wang Q and Ren JL contributed to the methodology; Xu YK validated the study; Liu Y, Chen R, Zhang Y, Wang Q and Ren JL reviewed and edited the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was conducted according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of The First Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Yuan-Kun Xu, PhD, Doctor, Department of Orthopedics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 71 Baoshan North Road, Yunyan District, Guiyang 524000, Guizhou Province, China. xuyuankun_21@163.com
Received: August 1, 2023
Peer-review started: August 1, 2023
First decision: August 16, 2023
Revised: August 28, 2023
Accepted: September 5, 2023
Article in press: September 5, 2023
Published online: October 19, 2023
Processing time: 72 Days and 4 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Given the limited efficacy of clinical intervention in knee osteoarthritis (KOA), it is necessary to continue to explore appropriate and effective treatment strategies to improve the condition of KOA patients.

Research motivation

The pathogenesis of KOA is complex, and exploring effective treatment strategies is of great significance for the prevention and treatment of this disease.

Research objectives

The aim of this study is to clarify the influence of ankle flexion and extension exercises combined with psychological intervention on the psychology and activities of daily living (ADLs) of patients with KOA.

Research methods

The research participants were 116 KOA patients admitted between May 2019 and May 2022, including 54 cases receiving routine treatment, care and psychological intervention (control group) and 62 cases additionally treated with ankle flexion and extension exercises (research group) on the basis of the control group. The two groups were comparatively analyzed in terms of psychological status (Self-rating Anxiety/Depression Scale, SDS/SAS), ADLs (ADL scale), knee joint function (Lysholm Knee Scoring Scale), pain (Visual Analogue Scale, VAS), fatigue (Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory, MFI), and quality of life (QoL; Short-Form 36 Item Health Survey, SF-36).

Research results

After evaluation, it was found that the postinterventional SDS, SAS, VAS, and MFI scores in the research group were significantly reduced compared with the baseline (before the intervention) values and those of the control group, while the postinterventional Lysholm, ADL, and SF-36 scores were markedly elevated.

Research conclusions

Ankle flexion and extension exercises are highly effective in easing negative psychology, enhancing ADLs, knee joint function and QoL, and relieving pain and fatigue in KOA patients, which is worthy of clinical promotion.

Research perspectives

In addition to the positive effect on the negative psychological relief and improvement of ADLs of KOA patients, ankle flexion and extension exercises combined with a psychological intervention can also effectively restore knee joint function, alleviate pain and fatigue, and enhance patients’ quality of life, providing an effective treatment option for KOA patients.