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Abstract Background: Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is considered the most leading cause of pain and disability. There was limited evidence about the efficacy of hip strengthening exercises in knee OA. Purpose: This study was conducted to compare between effect of traditional program and combined program of hip strengthening exercises and traditional program on dynamic knee stability, spatiotemporal gait parameters, lower extremity strength and disability in patients with knee OA. Methods: The studywas conducted on eighty eight participants (44 females, 44 males) with unilateral knee OA with Grade 2-3 knee OA on Kellgren- Lawrence scale, aged from 45-60 years. The participants were referred by orthopedic surgeon who was responsible for diagnosis based on clinical and radiological examination. All patients were randomly allocated into two groups: group (A) included 44 participants received traditional program in form of quadriceps strengthening exercise, and stretching exercise for hamstring and calf muscles, group (B) included 44 participants received the exercise of group A plus hip abductors, hip extensors, and hip external rotators strengthening exercises. All treatment programs applied 12 sessions (3 sessions per week for 4 weeks). Outcome measures: Frontal plane projection angle (FPPA) was used to assess the amount of varus thrust; 2D motion analysis was used to assess gait parameters(gait speed, stride length and single limb support (SLS); Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) was used to assess Functional status; and Hand held dynamometer (HHD) was used to assess muscle strength for hip abductor, hip extersor, hip external rotator, and knee extensor. Resultsthis study showed that at baseline, there was no significant difference between both groups in all tested variables (p>0.5). After treatment, both groups had statistically significant improvement on all tested variables (p=0.0001). However, hip strengthening group had more significant improvement compared to control group on all tested variables (p=0.0001), except knee extensor strength showed no significant differences between both groups (p=0.106). Conclusion: It can be concluded that adding hip strengthening exercises to traditional program of knee OA have significant effect on function, gait parameters, muscles strength, and varus thrust in medial knee OA. |