Exercise for Knee Osteoarthritis Pain
This study is exploring how different types of exercise affect knee pain in people with knee osteoarthritis (OA). Researchers want to see if arm exercise (using an arm bike) or leg exercise (using a cycling bike) can reduce pain. They will measure changes in your pain sensitivity and how your body processes pain before and after exercise. The study also looks at how factors like socioeconomic status and stress might relate to these exercise effects. You may be eligible if you are between 45 and 90 years old and have activity-related knee pain lasting less than 30 minutes in the morning. The goal is to better understand how exercise helps with knee pain.
- Study design
- This is a pilot randomized cross-over study involving 60 participants. You will experience both arm and leg exercise interventions.
- What's involved
- You will have 3 laboratory visits, each at least a week apart. These visits include baseline assessments, knee pain assessments, and exercise sessions (25 minutes of exercise preceded by a 5-minute warm-up).
- Compensation
- Not stated in the trial record.
- Follow-up
- Your pain and other measures will be assessed immediately after exercise on Days 2 and 3.
AI-generated from the public study record. Only the study team can confirm whether you're eligible — confirm details with them before making decisions.
Upper and Lower Extremity Exercise and Exercise-Induced Hypoalgesia in Knee Osteoarthritis
At a glance
Conditions
NCT06105788
Where you'd take part
This study runs at 1 site. They're the same protocol — you choose where, and that choice sets who your contact draft is addressed to.
The University of Texas at El Paso
El Paso, Texasstudy coordinator listed
Recruiting
Sites open and close at different times, so the status above is per site — it can differ from the study's overall status.
Study leadership
- Kosaku Aoyagi, PhD · PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR · Assistant Professor
Who to contact
Opens a ready-to-send draft in your own email app — review before sending.
Want this trial checked against your situation?
Add a private profile and we'll compare every criterion below against your situation — and tell you which ones are met, uncertain, or excluding.
Inclusion
Exclusion
What this trial measures
- Changes in pressure pain thresholds (Measure of exercise-induced hypoalgesia)Day 1: PPT will be assessed twice. PPT assessment --> 25 minutes of waiting --> PPT assessment; Time frame of Days 2 and 3 will be the same except 25 minutes of waiting time. It will be 25 minutes of exercise (either AE or LE) on Days 2 and 3
Pressure pain thresholds (PPT) will be assessed at the wrist and patella. PPT being assessed at a remote body site (e.g., wrist) is to measure central pain sensitivity while PPT being assessed at the location of pain (i.e., knee, patellae) is to assess peripheral pain sensitivity with or without central pain sensitivity. PPT will be assessed using a handheld pressure algometer with 1 cm2 rubber tip. PPT will be defined as the point at which the participant verbally indicated that the pressure first changed to slight pain. A lower PPT value (Kgf) represents greater pain sensitivity. PPT will be assessed 3 times at each location and averaged. Furthermore, changes in PPT after exercise has been used to assess the degree of exercise-induced hypoalgesia (EIH). When PPT values increase after the exercise, it indicates a reduction of pain sensitivity and, therefore, an effect of EIH.
- Mechanical temporal summationDay 1: TS will be assessed twice. TS assessment --> 25 minutes of waiting --> TS assessment; Time frame of Days 2 and 3 will be the same except 25 minutes of waiting time. It will be 25 minutes of exercise (either AE or LE) on Days 2 and 3
Temporal summation (TS) is a sensitive measurement of central pain sensitivity. Investigators will assess TS using a standard set of weighted probes from 64-512 mN. Participants will rate the pain experienced by each successive weighted probe being touched on the skin of the wrist until a pain rating of ≥ 4/10 is achieved. The selected probe will be then applied at a frequency of 1 Hz for 10 seconds on the wrist. Participants will provide a pain rating at the completion of the train of 10 stimulations and 15 seconds post-stimulation. TS will be defined as the difference between the highest post-stimulation pain rating and the initial pain rating. A post-stimulation pain rating greater than the initial pain rating will be considered to be reflective of an increase in central pain sensitivity.
- Conditioned pain modulationDay 1: CPM will be assessed twice. CPM assessment --> 25 minutes of waiting --> CPM assessment; Time frame of Days 2 and 3 will be the same except 25 minutes of waiting time. It will be 25 minutes of exercise (either AE or LE) on Days 2 and 3
Conditioned pain modulation (CPM) evaluates the adequacy of the descending pain modulatory pathways, which contributes to central pain sensitivity. Investigators will assess CPM using PPT as the test stimulus (PPT1) at the wrist as described above, with forearm ischemia using a blood pressure cuff as the conditioning stimulus. Briefly, the blood pressure cuff applied to the contralateral arm will be inflated to 10mm Hg above systolic pressure. The participant will be then instructed to perform hand grip squeezes until pain of at least 4/10 occurs in the contralateral arm. PPT will be then reassessed at the wrist 3 times and averaged (PPT2). Percent efficiency of CPM (%CPM) was computed as PPT2/PPT1, multiplied by 100; %CPM ≤ 100 indicates inefficient CPM.
- Knee painDay 1: knee pain will be assessed twice. Knee pain assessment --> 25 minutes of waiting --> knee pain assessment; Time frame of Days 2 and 3 will be the same except 25 minutes of waiting time. It will be 25 minutes of exercise (either AE or LE) on Days 2
We will assess changes in knee pain with a 20 meter walk using a 0-10 numeric rating scale where 0 indicates no knee pain and 10 indicates the worst knee pain.