FREquency of strength home exercises for knee osteoarthritis pain: Protocol for the FRESH non-inferiority randomised controlled trial

Abstract

Objective: To determine if a strength exercise program prescribed once a week is non-inferior to the same program prescribed three times a week, as measured by change in average walking pain at 3 months post-randomisation, in people with knee osteoarthritis (OA). Design: A parallel two-arm non-inferiority randomised controlled trial, involving 178 people aged ≥45 years, with chronic knee pain consistent with OA. This protocol is reported in accordance with SPIRIT 2025 guidelines. Following baseline assessment, participants are randomised (1:1 allocation ratio) to receive the same home strength exercise program (3 sets of 12 repetitions of 5 lower limb exercises for approximately 3 months) pr..