Exercises are effective in knee OA.

Exercise for lower limb osteoarthritis: systematic review incorporating trial sequential analysis and network meta-analysis.
Uthman, O., Van Der Vindt, D., Jordan, J., Dziedzic, K., Healey, E., Peat, G. and Foster, N. British Medical Journal, 2013; 347:f5555 doi: 10.1136/bmj.f5555.

“60 trials (44 knee, two hip, 14 mixed) covering 12 exercise interventions and with 8218 patients met inclusion criteria.”
“The study showed that there is firm evidence for a beneficial effect of exercise interventions over no exercise, for both pain and functional improvement, in people with lower limb osteoarthritis.”
“In terms of the cumulative probability of being the overall best exercise intervention for pain in lower limb osteoarthritis, aquatic strengthening plus aerobic flexibility exercise (81%) was closely followed by strengthening exercise only (76%), and aquatic strengthening plus aerobic exercise (73%).”
“The combination of strengthening, flexibility, and aerobic exercise (71%) and aquatic strengthening plus aerobic (71%) exercises had the highest probability of being the best overall treatment for function.”
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