Background and Purpose: Osteoarthritis alters the anatomy and physiology of the knee affected, leading to physical limitation as well as negatively affecting the socioeconomic participation of the patient. The purpose of this study was to determine the how PA level and clinical presentation of the patients relate to their functional performance and perception of function.

Relevance: The functional performance and perception of the function of the lower limbs and general function is considered of great importance in the management of patients with knee OA.

Participants:

Methods. Patients diagnosed with knee OA (N=53), with unilateral (N=21) and bilateral (N=32) knee affectation, were recruited to determine their PA level, clinical presentations, functional performance and perception of function, using functional performance tests, self-reports questionnaires. The self-report questionnaires, Global Rating Change scale (GRC), Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), International PA questionnaire (IPAQ), and knee OA outcome survey (KOOS) were administered on the participants. While the performance tests, timed up & go (TUG), stair climbing test (SCT) and six minute walk test (6MWT), were carried out by the participants.

Analysis: Spearman Correlation was used to determine the relationship between the outcome and independent variables. Independent t-test was used to determine the differences between the unilateral and bilateral knee osteoarthritis patient, as well as between the male and female patients. SPSS version 20 was used to analyse all the data with the level of significant set at 0.05.

Results. The result findings showed that a significant relationship was observed between physical activity levels, clinical presentation, and functional performance. However, no significant relationship between physical activity levels, clinical presentation and perception of function was observed. Also a significant difference in functional performance based on gender and knee site of affectation (unilateral or bilateral) was also observed.

Conclusion. In conclusion, there was a significant relationship between physical activity levels, clinical presentation and functional performance, but no relationship was observed between clinical presentations, physical activity with the perception of function among the patients with knee osteoarthritis. There was also a significant difference in functional performance within gender and patient with unilateral and bilateral knee OA and no difference was seen in term of perceived function within gender and the knee site of affectation.

Implications: Determining the influence of physical activity level and severity of symptoms in the perception and performance of function among patients with bilateral and unilateral knee OA will greatly shape the clinicians decision in prescribing treatment by giving consideration to which group are affected more by this factors.

Keywords: physical activity, perception, osteoarthritis

Ethics approval: Ethical clearance was sought from the research and ethical committee of the National Orthopaedic hospital Dala, Kano State, Nigeria (NOHD/RET/ETHICS/43).