ABSTRACT

Background: Fatigue is an important and often neglected symptom in the knee osteoarthritis (KOA) population. Studies have shown that prolonged physical activity worsened fatigue. Effect of an acute bout of aerobic exercise on fatigue is yet to be fully explored.

Aim: Therefore, this study compared the acute effect of a-10 and 15-minute aerobic exercise on emotional and mental fatigue in people with KOA.

Methods: A quasi experimental study design was used. The 46 participants who met the inclusion criteria were randomized into two groups. Participants performed aerobic exercise using the bicycle ergometer. Outcomes including pain, emotional fatigue and mental fatigue of participants were assessed at baseline, before exercise, immediately after the exercise, 10 minutes after exercise and 20 minutes after exercise using the Visual Analogue Scale for pain and numerical rating scale for emotional and mental fatigue. Friedman’s ANOVA, Mann-Whitney U and generalized estimated equation analysis were used to analyse the data.

Results: The mean age of the total participants was 67.09±1.85 years and more than half of the participants had bilateral KOA (78.3%). There was a significant reduction in fatigue within 10- and 15-minutes exercise participants (p<0.001). More so, analysis of time within group showed a decrease in emotional and mental fatigue level. Further, time and group interaction have no significance (p<0.309).

Conclusion: Acute bout (10 and 15minutes) of aerobic exercise using bicycle ergometer appears to have a positive acute effect on emotional and mental fatigue in this group.

Keywords: Osteoarthritis, Knee Osteoarthritis, Emotional fatigue, Mental fatigue, Aerobic exercise, Bicycle ergometer.