@article{10.37349/emed.2026.1001438,
abstract = {Aim: The present study investigated clinical and functional changes after a 12-week rehabilitation exercise program in obese and non-obese patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA). Methods: This retrospective, single-cohort pre–post complete-case analysis without a non-exercise control group included 60 patients with radiographically confirmed KOA (Kellgren-Lawrence grades 1–4). Participants were classified into a non-obese group [body mass index (BMI) < 25 kg/m2, n = 30] and an obese group (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2, n = 30) according to the Asia-Pacific obesity criteria of the World Health Organization (WHO). All participants completed a standardized 12-week rehabilitation exercise program consisting of flexibility, muscle strengthening, and balance exercises, performed for 60 min per session, three times per week. Clinical and functional outcomes were assessed, including body composition, pain and osteoarthritis index scores, thigh circumference, gluteus medius and isokinetic muscle strength, and functional ability. Results: A significant group × time interaction was observed for body weight (p = 0.006), whereas no significant interactions were observed for BMI or the other clinical and functional outcomes. Significant main effects of time were observed for BMI, body fat mass (BFM), percent body fat (%BF), pain and osteoarthritis index scores, thigh circumference, gluteus medius and isokinetic muscle strength, and functional ability (all p < 0.05), whereas no significant time effect was observed for skeletal muscle mass. Conclusions: The 12-week rehabilitation exercise program was associated with improvements in clinical and functional outcomes in both obese and non-obese patients with KOA, with a significant group × time interaction observed only for body weight. Trial registration: KCT0012016; https://cris.nih.go.kr/cris/index/index.do.},
author = {Kim, Su young and Lee, Eunjoo and Lee, Dhong Won and Cho, Seung Ik and Choi, Jae-Ho and Sun, Yerin and Woo, Seungyeon and Kim, Sung-Woo and Kim, Jisu and Lim, Kiwon and Park, Hun-Young},
doi = {10.37349/emed.2026.1001438},
journal = {Exploration of Medicine},
elocation-id = {1001438},
title = {Clinical and functional changes after 12-week rehabilitation exercise in obese and non-obese patients with knee osteoarthritis},
url = {https://www.explorationpub.com/Journals/em/Article/1001438},
volume = {7},
year = {2026}
}