• Cecilie Bartholdy, Carsten Juhl, Robin Christensen, Hans Lund, Weiya Zhang, and Marius Henriksen.
• The Parker Institute, Copenhagen University Hospital, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg, Copenhagen, Denmark; Department of Physical and Occupational Therapy, Copenhagen University Hospital, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg, Copenhagen, Denmark.
• Semin. Arthritis Rheum. 2017 Aug 1; 47 (1): 9-21.

ObjectivesTo analyze if exercise interventions for patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA) following the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) definition of muscle strength training differs from other types of exercise, and to analyze associations between changes in muscle strength, pain, and disability.MethodsA systematic search in 5 electronic databases was performed to identify randomized controlled trials comparing exercise interventions with no intervention in knee OA, and reporting changes in muscle strength and in pain or disability assessed as standardized mean differences (SMD) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Interventions were categorized as ACSM interventions or not-ACSM interventions and compared using stratified random effects meta-analysis models. Associations between knee extensor strength gain and changes in pain/disability were assessed using meta-regression analyses.ResultsThe 45 eligible trials with 4699 participants and 56 comparisons (22 ACSM interventions) were included in this analysis. A statistically significant difference favoring the ACSM interventions with respect to knee extensor strength was found [SMD difference: 0.448 (95% CI: 0.091-0.805)]. No differences were observed regarding effects on pain and disability. The meta-regressions indicated that increases in knee extensor strength of 30-40% would be necessary for a likely concomitant beneficial effect on pain and disability, respectively.ConclusionExercise interventions following the ACSM criteria for strength training provide superior outcomes in knee extensor strength but not in pain or disability. An increase of less than 30% in knee extensor strength is not likely to be clinically beneficial in terms of changes in pain and disability (PROSPERO: CRD42014015344).Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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