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Clinic-based physical therapy more successful for osteoarthritis

Rehab Private Practice Alert, December 7, 2005

A recent study published in Physical Therapy, the journal of APTA, determined that clinic-based physical therapy programs are more successful that home-based physical therapy for patients with osteoarthritis.

The study showed that both treatments can be beneficial, but manual therapy applied by PTs combined with PT-supervised exercises made patients less likely to be on medication one year later.

The study consisted of 134 patients who underwent one of the two treatments over a four-week period. Patients undergoing clinical treatment showed a 52% improvement rate, while home-based patients saw only a 26% improvement.

Checking in with the patients a year later, the improvement was about the same, but clinically treated patients were less likely to be on medication and expressed more satisfaction with their treatment.

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