Grant-Funded Projects Rehabilitation Sciences
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Impact of Serial Whole-Body Cryotherapy on the Functional Capacity of Patients with Knee and Hip Osteoarthritis: Summative Evaluation
Background
Osteoarthritis is one of the most common joint disorders in adulthood and causes substantial socioeconomic costs due to medical treatment, surgery, work absenteeism, and early retirement. As the disease cannot currently be cured, treatment aims to alleviate pain, slow disease progression, and preserve joint mobility.
Positive experiences with serial whole-body cryotherapy in the treatment of patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases suggest that beneficial effects on pain and joint function may also be achieved in patients with osteoarthritis. Therefore, a randomized controlled trial (RCT) will be conducted at the Bad Füssing-Passau Rehabilitation Center to systematically evaluate the efficacy of whole-body cryotherapy in patients with hip and knee osteoarthritis.
Methods
A monocentric randomized controlled trial with four assessment time points (at the beginning of rehabilitation, at the end of rehabilitation, and at 3- and 6-month follow-up) will be conducted with 245 rehabilitation patients with knee or hip osteoarthritis (severity grades 2 to 4).
The study will investigate the effects of a two-week course of daily treatment in a cryotherapy chamber at minus 110°C (intervention group, IG) compared with sham cryotherapy (control group, CG: whole-body cryotherapy outside the therapeutic temperature range) on activities of daily living and functional capacity, pain perception, as well as coordination and muscular endurance of the lower extremities.
Cooperation Partners
Bad Füssing-Passau Rehabilitation Center
Dr. Till Richter, Dipl.-Sportwiss. Gabi Eichner
Department of Orthopedic Surgery, University of Würzburg (König-Ludwig-Haus)
Prof. Dr. Maximilian Rudert, Dr. Thien Anh Le
Contact
Dr. Jutta Ahnert
Email:Ahnert_j@ukw.de