The effective interventions to improve long-term physiotherapy exercise adherence among patients with lower limb osteoarthritis. A systematic review

Abstract Introduction: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic condition that severely effects work life balance impacting psychosocial and socio-economic aspects. Physiotherapy exercise is one of the intervention methods for the management of OA. Adherence to the exercise by patients is essential for the effective management of OA. Objectives: To determine different methods used to enhance physiotherapy exercise adherence for more than 12 months among patients with osteoarthritis and to report the effective method to enhance exercise adherence among people with lower limb osteoarthritis. Design: Systematic review Methods: PubMed, Pedro, Web of Science, and EMBASE databases searched for randomized controlled trials, cohort studies, case-control studies, and cross-sectional studies published in the English language from 2000 to 2020. The date of data extraction was 04 September 2020. Two independent researchers conducted literature search, assessed eligibility, extracted data, conducted methodology quality assessment using the PEDro scale, and conducted risk of bias assessment. A narrative synthesis of key outcomes is presented; preferred Reporting Items for Systematic review was used to report the review. The study protocol was registered in the Prospero (Prospero ID: CRD42020205653). Results: The primary search strategy identified 5839 potentially relevant articles, of which 5157 remained after discarding duplicates. After screening based on title and abstract, 40 papers were potentially eligible for inclusion. Five of these papers met all predefined eligibility criteria. Introducing methods to enhance exercise adherence has caused a significant increase in exercise adherence for the short term (less than six months or 12 months). There were no significant differences, long-term adherence with different methods, reported. The results indicate that booster sessions (89.69%) and telephone-linked communication (86%) had higher percentages for the exercise adherence. Secondary outcomes such as pain, stiffness, function, show positive outcomes with increasing exercise adherence. However, there were no significant differences reported. Conclusion: The booster sessions and telephone-linked communication appear to enhance exercise adherence for more than 12 months among patients with osteoarthritis. However, a number of high-quality studies are inadequate to confirm our findings. Therefore, more studies with higher methodological quality are needed to determine the best strategies to enhance long-term exercise adherence among people with osteoarthritis. Key terms: Osteoarthritis, Long term, Exercise adherence