Aplicación de un Protocolo de Ejercicios con Facilitación Neuromuscular Propioceptiva para mejorar rango y fuerza muscular en adultos mayores con dolor de rodillas.

Abstract

Knee pain is one of the main problems for the population over 65 years old and is related to degenerative diseases such as osteoarthritis. Exercises with the Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation technique (PNF) have been suggested as an alternative rehabilitation treatment to reduce the impacts of this frequent symptom. The purpose of this project was to apply an exercise protocol with the Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation technique to improve range of motion and muscle strength in older adults with knee pain. Twenty older adults with an age range between 65 and 80 years from the Atahualpa parish participated, all of them performed the protocol for 12 weeks with a frequency of 1 session per week. The patients were evaluated before and after the intervention using the numerical pain rating scale, goniometric test and Daniels test. The resistance, difficulty and number of repetitions applied in the lower limb diagonals were gradually increased. The SPSS program was used for statistical analysis. The results obtained confirm the hypothesis that the parameters tested: pain, joint mobility and muscle strength improved after the use of PNF techniques. It is concluded that the three specific techniques: Rhythmic Initiation, Dynamic Inversions and Contraction-Relaxation belonging to the concept of Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation applied in an exercise protocol increase physical capacities such as mobility and muscle strength in the older adult population aged 65 to 80 years. Future and more extensive research is necessary considering the variables or limitations that may have intervened in this study.