Brazilian foot exercise program for knee arthritis 1: warmup exercises

Massive reductions in pain and symptoms in as little 8 weeks!

A group of physiotherapists at Sao Paulo University in Brazil conducted an 8-week program for foot exercises to treat knee arthritis. Here’s what they found!-

Here’s what they found!-

An 8-week foot-ankle muscle strengthening program decreased knee pain and enhanced physical function in individuals with KOA, presenting a potential to be clinically meaningful.

Foot-ankle muscle strengthening program can be a treatment option for individuals with knee osteoarthritis (KOA) who do not tolerate exercises with excessive load on the knee.

My (somewhat unscientific take) on the analysis is that their patients (on average) experienced a 35% to 55% reduction in knee pain and a 20% improvement in function when measured by how fast they could climb stairs or get out of a chair.

Remember - these exercises were for muscles below the knees! - That means no “knee strengthening” and exercises for thighs, hips, or the rest of the body!

If you have knee arthritis the following exercises are for you!

Update (2nd December 2024):

I’ve uploaded the warmup video and other videos will follow. More will be coming soon. When practising and demonstrating

Exercises are listed (with some modifications) below.

Download a pdf of the original exercises here.

View the research report here