Impact of a daily exercise dose on knee joint cartilage – a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials in healthy animals

A. Bricca*, C. B. Juhl, A. J. Grodzinsky, E. M. Roos

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

30 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Objective To investigate the impact of a daily exercise dose on cartilage composition and thickness, by conducting a systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving healthy animals. Methods A narrative synthesis of the effect of a daily exercise dose on knee cartilage aggrecan, collagen and thickness was performed. A subset of studies reporting sufficient data was combined in meta-analysis using a random-effects model. Meta-regression analyses were performed to investigate the impact of covariates. Results Twenty-nine RCTs, involving 64 comparisons, were included. In the low dose exercise group, 21/25 comparisons reported decreased or no effect on cartilage aggrecan, collagen and thickness. In the moderate dose exercise group, all 12 comparisons reported either no or increased effect. In the high dose exercise group, 19/27 comparisons reported decreased effect. A meta-analysis of 14 studies investigating cartilage thickness showed no effect in the low dose exercise group (SMD −0.02; 95% CI −0.42 to 0.38; I2 = 0.0%), large but non-significant cartilage thickening in the moderate dose exercise group (SMD 0.95; 95% CI −0.33 to 2.23; I2 = 72.1%) and non-significant cartilage thinning in the high dose exercise group (SMD −0.19; 95% CI −0.49 to 0.12; I2 = 0.0%). Results were independent of analyzed covariates. The overall quality of the studies was poor because of inadequate reporting of data and high risk of bias. Conclusions Our results suggest that the relationship between daily exercise dose and cartilage composition, but not necessarily cartilage thickness, may be non-linear. While we found inconclusive evidence for a low daily dose of exercise, a high daily dose of exercise may have negative effects and a moderate daily dose of exercise may have positive effects on cartilage matrix composition in healthy animals.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1223-1237
Number of pages15
JournalOsteoarthritis and Cartilage
Volume25
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Aug 2017

Bibliographical note

This project is supported by a European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-ITN; KNEEMO) under grant agreement number 607510.

Keywords

  • Aggrecan
  • Collagen
  • Exercise
  • Glycosaminoglycan
  • Proteoglycan
  • Thickness

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