The Impact of Physical Therapy on Pain and Disability Associated With Knee Osteoarthritis A Critical Review of Literature

Knee osteoarthritis is an extremely common musculoskeletal disorder of the lower extremity that results in significant physical impairment and functional limitations. The resulting pain and disability associated with knee osteoarthritis impacts various components of physical function including treatment satisfaction and patient/client quality of life. Therefore, the need to know the efficacy of currently existing interventions in the physical rehabilitation of patients with knee osteoarthritis is essential in the clinical decision-making process involved in the implementation of plan of care for effective management and successful treatment outcomes. This paper also highlights the scientific methods involved in the search of existing literature to capture highly relevant information in the critical analysis of physical therapy treatment for knee osteoarthritis.