Cycling exercise program for knee osteoarthritis

Testing two cycling exercise programs for painful knee osteoarthritis

About the study

Only 1 in 4 Australians do enough physical activity to maintain their overall health. We know that exercise has wide ranging benefits (including heart, lung, balance, and strength benefits) as well as benefits for pain and function in people with osteoarthritis, so it is important to study how to help people to exercise more.

This study aims to evaluate the feasibility of two different cycling programs for people with painful knee osteoarthritis. We want to understand people’s experiences of these interventions, and to see if the cycling programs have positive effects on their exercise enjoyment/engagement and their knee osteoarthritis symptoms.

Both cycling programs consist of 12 sessions (2x/week for 6 weeks) and will be supervised by a physiotherapist. During each session, you will be asked to use a stationary bike for up to 30min. You will work with your physiotherapist to progress through the program, and the resistance levels and time spent cycling will be individualised to suit your preferences/needs.

Eligibility Requirements

You can participate if you are ≥45 years of age and have:

Painful knee osteoarthritis (for at least 6 months)
No health conditions that would prevent you from doing activity
No cognitive impairment (Alzheimer’s or dementia)

Benefits

You will be given a $20 honorarium for completion of each testing session ($40 total)

You will also receive 12x free cycling treatments, supervised by a physiotherapist

Confidentiality and use of data

The research team will take every care to remove any identifying material from the responses you provide as early as possible. Individual responses will be kept confidential by the researcher and participants will not be identifiable in the reporting of the research (e.g., when results are published in scientific journals).