Association of the body types and disease-related values of knee osteoarthritic patients

Different spa therapy courses are offered for treating knee osteoarthritis (OA) in Estonian medical spas. They contain approximately six daily sessions of three different treatments: massages, thermotherapies, kinesitherapies etc. There are some disease related risk factors including weight and sex. All subjects in the current study were divided into five height-weight classes and they were evaluated before and after the spa therapy course and the follow-up after 10 weeks and six months. To assess the clinical status different questionnaires (HAQ-DI, VAS, Lequesne Index) were used. The results showed that the subjects who participated in the study were mainly females and overweight. In the female group, there were more big type persons, but males were more leptomorphic. Females reported greater knee pain values, but males felt much better after six months. Also, leptomorphs had significantly better changes in the follow-up study. Higher pain diminishing was found in overweight persons but not obese subjects. The subject’s functional ability to do usual activities was mild or moderate. Only leptomorphs had significant decrease in the follow-up study. The Lequesne Index related to the function of the knee and score stabilized after 10 weeks in the small and leptomorph group.