TO ASSESS THE BALANCE CONTROL OF ELDERLY WITH SYMPTOMATIC KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS IN A SELECTED COMMUNITY AT KANYAKUMARI DISTRICT

Abstract

Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most prevalent musculoskeletal impairments worldwide, affecting 30 - 40% of the population by the age of 65 years. It is a major cause of impairments and disability among the elderly and poses a significant economic burden on the community. Individuals with knee OA suffer progressive loss of function displaying increasing dependency in walking, stair climbing and other lower extremity task. The problem under the study was to assess the balance control of elderly with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis from selected community area at Kanyakumari district. The objectives of the study were to assess the balance control of elderly with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis, and to find out the association of balance control and selected demographic variables. The descriptive research design was adopted for this study. The population selected for the study comprised of elderly with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis from selected community area at Kanyakumari district. 60 elderly were selected by non-probability purposive sampling technique. The Berg Balance Scale was used to assess the balance control. Frequency, percentage, chi square test was used to analyse the study. The result of the study revealed that 59 (98.33%) of the elderly suffered with moderate level of balance control. The findings revealed that statistically significant association was found between age and history of doing exercise and balance control of the elderly at p=0.05. No association was found between functional ability and other demographic variables.