Influence of stretching and strengthening exercise on functional activity in Genu Osteoarthritis patients

Genu osteoarthritis is a chronic degenerative joint disease in the cartilage of knee marked by clinical, histological, and radiological changes. In genu osteoarthritis, patients will experience morning stiffness, pain and joint inflammation, range of motion limitation, decreasing of muscle power, joint instability and functional activity disorders. Stretching and strengthening exercises are two techniques that can be used to increase functional activity for patients with osteoarthritis genu. This study aims to determine the different of functional activity in patient with osteoarthritis genu before and after stretching and strengthening exercise. This study was used quasi experimental research method with one group pretest-posttest time series design. The sampling technique was purposive sampling with the number of samples as many as 25 people who met the inclusion criteria such as aged ≥ 40 years, had a Manual Muscle Test value ≥ 3, had contracture of flexor muscle of knee and followed all of the study procedure. The measuring instruments was Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index to determine the functional activity before and after 3 and 6 times of therapy. The data was analysed by paired T test. The results showed that there were an increasing activity of daily living in patient with osteoarthritis genu after 3 times treatment (p=0,001) and 6 times treatment (p=0,001) stretching and strengthening exercise both in woman and man.