Knee osteoarthritis is a major problem bothering people around the world and various therapies are available which promise to heal or improve this condition. This particular study focusses on the primary and the secondary outcome results to contemplate the role of manual therapy or use of booster sessions for knee osteoarthritis.  

(1) Do treatment effects differ between participants receiving manual therapy (MT) with exercise compared to subjects who don't, (2) are treatment effects sustained better when participants receive booster sessions compared to those who don't over a one-year period in subjects with knee osteoarthritis (KOA)?

Multi-center, 2 × 2 factorial randomized clinical trial. 300 participants with knee OA were randomized to four groups: exercise-no boosters (Ex), exercise-with boosters (Ex+B), manual therapy+exercise-no boosters (MT+Ex), manual therapy+exercise-with boosters (MT+Ex+B). The primary outcome was the Western Ontario and McMaster osteoarthritis index (WOMAC) at 1 year. Secondary outcomes included knee pain, physical performance tests, and proportions of participants meeting treatment responder criteria.

There were no differences between groups on the WOMAC at 1 year or on any performance-based measures. Secondary analyses indicated a) better scores on the WOMAC and greater odds of being a treatment responder at 9 weeks for participants receiving MT, b) greater odds of being a treatment responder at 1 year for participants receiving boosters. Exploratory interaction analysis suggested knee pain decreases for participants receiving boosters and increases for participants not receiving boosters from 9 weeks to 1 year.

MT or use of boosters with exercise did not result in additive improvement in the primary outcome at 1 year. Secondary outcomes suggest MT may have some short term benefit, and booster sessions may improve responder status and knee pain at 1 year. However, the role of booster sessions remains unclear in sustaining treatment effects and warrants further study.