Research
Adherence
Exercise interventions for hip or knee osteoarthritis improve self-efficacy and slightly reduce depression, but have little to no effect on anxiety.
Exercise can help boost your confidence in managing your condition and may slightly reduce depressive symptoms. However, do not expect exercise to significantly alleviate anxiety. Focus on the physical and confidence-building benefits.
ModerateQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
Self-efficacy was increased by an absolute percent of 1.66%... small benefits for depression from moderate quality evidence indicating an absolute percent reduction of 2.4%... but no clinically or statistically significant effect on anxiety.
Why this rating
Low quality for self-efficacy, moderate for depression, moderate for anxiety.
Source
Exercise interventions and patient beliefs for people with hip, knee or hip and knee osteoarthritis: a mixed methods review
Michael Hurley et al. · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · 2018
DOI 10.1002/14651858.cd010842.pub2
Meta-analysis · 21 studiesCited 322×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Providing reassurance, clear advice, and enjoyable exercise programs can encourage greater participation in exercise for people with osteoarthritis.Good
- Exercise interventions for hip or knee osteoarthritis reduce pain and improve physical function, with moderate quality evidence supporting these outcomes.Moderate
Related findings · Adherence
- Regular physical activity (at least 150 minutes/week of moderate-intensity) reduces all-cause and cardiovascular mortality by 20-30% and lowers the risk of type 2 diabetes by 25-35%.Strong
- Increasing physical activity from a sedentary lifestyle to an active one in middle adulthood significantly reduces the risk of coronary events compared to remaining sedentary.Strong
- Resistance exercise is the only intervention capable of consistently restoring muscle function and strength in sarcopenia, partially overcoming age-related anabolic resistance.Strong
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