Efficacy of intra-articular hyaluronic acid injections and exercise-based rehabilitation programme, administered as isolated or integrated therapeutic regimens for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis

This report has been verified by one or more authors of the original publication.

165 patients with mild to moderate knee osteoarthritis were randomized to one of three groups: either combined therapy of intra-articular hyaluronic acid injections and exercise-based rehabilitation; monotherapy with intra-articular hyaluronic acid injections; or monotherapy with exercise-based rehabilitation. The purpose of this study was to determine if there were any significant differences in patient-reported outcome on the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) between groups. All groups demonstrated a significant improvement in WOMAC scores from baseline. With the exception of 1-month WOMAC pain scores, which favoured the combination treatment over monotherapy with hyaluronic acid, no significant between-group differences were observed over the 6-month follow-up.