| Objective To observe the effects of ankle flexion and extension exercises on knee joint function and depression of patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA).Methods A study was carried out with 120 patients with KOA admitted to PanzhihuaIntegratedTraditional Chinese and Western Medicine Hospital from August 2018 to August 2019. They were assigned into four groups by randomnumber method, namely the supine ankle flexion and extension group (G1), sitting ankle flexion and extension group (G2), standing ankle flexion and extension group (G3) and walking group (G4), 30 cases in each group. Follow-up was performed after 12 weeks of intervention. The knee joint WOMAC arthritis scale was used to evaluate knee joint function, and the 13-item Beck Depression Inventory(BDI) was used to evaluate the changes of depression before and after the ankle joint flexion and extension exercise intervention.Re? sults After the patients underwent ankle flexion and extension exercises for 12 weeks, the total knee WOMAC scores were significantly lower than those before the exercise intervention[68(67, 73) points vs. 78 (73, 81) points, 67(68, 74) pointsvs, 79 (74, 82) points, 67 (65,72) points vs. 78 (72, 83) points, 65(62,70)points vs. 79 (74, 82) points; P<0.05]. In terms of specific indicators, the knee pain anddifficulty in daily life in G1 to G3 all improved, but the degree of stiffness did not improve; the knee pain, stiffness, and difficulty in daily life in G4 were all improved. The proportions of patients with normal BDI score distribution in the four groups of G1, G2, G3, and G4after intervention were significantly higher than those before intervention (P<0.05). There were no patients with normal BDI scores inthe four groups before intervention, whilethe numbers of patients with normal BDI scores were 6 cases, 6 cases, 4 cases, and 7 cases, respectively. There were no significant differences in BDI score distribution among the four groups after intervention (P>0.05).Conclu? sion Ankle flexion and extension exercises have certain benefits for the improvement of knee joint function in KOA patients, and it issuitable for KOA patients who are inconvenient to walk outdoors for exercise. |
