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The Effect of Physical Activity on Knee Osteoarthritis, Pain and Gait

NCT07649863 · Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 44

Last updated 2026-06-16

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Knee osteoarthritis, a chronic musculoskeletal disease, is the most prevalent type of osteoarthritis and the leading cause of disability and major healthcare costs worldwide. The pathogenesis of the disease is not fully understood and there are few non-invasive disease-modifying therapies available to patients. Therefore, there is a critical need to enhance therapeutic interventions, which requires improvement of our understanding of knee osteoarthritis pathogenesis.

Increasing evidence suggests that physical activity and exercise training are cost-effective and widely available interventions for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis, however, consideration of type of physical activity and optimal exercise modality are needed to reduce pain, improve gait, knee joint function, stiffness, and muscle weakness in individuals with knee osteoarthritis.

The aim of this pilot clinical trial is to compare individuals with knee osteoarthritis who have not exercised with individuals that have performed retro walking exercise chosen from the systematic review and survey we have conducted previously to reduce pain and improve gait.

Non-linear analyses will be performed to determine the effects of exercise intervention on gait biomechanics and stability of movement in these patients. These findings may form a basis for recommendations of exercise/physical activity interventions for the benefits of patients with knee osteoarthritis including pain reduction, mobility improvement and gait modification.

Conditions

  • Osteoarthritis (OA) of the Knee

Interventions

OTHER

Retro walking (backwards walking) on a treadmill

Prior to the intervention participants will be made familiar with retro walking on the treadmill. The exercise will consist of a forward walking for 5min on the treadmill for warm-up followed by retro walking for 10min and a cool-down for 5min. Participants will be instructed to increase their retro walking time up to 30min if the pain sensation continuously was reduced (pain scores \< 3 numerical rating scale). The comfortable speed of the retro walking will be determined by the participant under supervision of the researchers. No slopes or inclination will be used in this study for participant safety. In the warm-up and cool-down sessions participants will be asked to perform muscle stretch, ankle toe movements and heel raise exercises.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

    collaborator OTHER

  • Nuffield Health

    collaborator UNKNOWN

  • Anglia Ruskin University

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2026-07-31
Primary Completion
2026-09-30
Completion
2026-12-31

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT07649863 on ClinicalTrials.gov