OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness of a 12-week self-management and exercise intervention (the PLE2NO program) in elderly individuals with knee osteoarthritis. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial. SETTING: Four different community settings. SUBJECTS: Eighty individuals aged 60 years or older with clinical and radiographic knee osteoarthritis enrolled in the study. INTERVENTION: A combined self-management and exercise intervention (treatment group) and an educational intervention (control group). MAIN MEASURES: The primary outcomes were pain and other knee osteoarthritis symptoms (swelling, crackling, limitation on movement, and stiffness), self-management behaviors (communication with physician and cognitive symptom management), and functional lower limb strength. Secondary outcomes were knee osteoarthritis-specific health-related quality of life, self-perceived health, aerobic capacity, lower and upper limb flexibility, and handgrip strength. RESULTS: In all, 67 participants, mean age 69.1 +/- 5.8years, completed the study: 32 in the educational group and 35 in the self-management and exercise group. A significant group effect favorable to the self-management and exercise group was observed in the following variables: communication with the physicians (p = 0.048), aerobic capacity (p = 0.035), and functional lower limb strength (p = 0.015). Although no significant group effect was detected, clinical improvements in pain (31%) and knee osteoarthritis symptoms (29%) were observed in the experimental group. No improvements regarding cognitive symptom management, self-perceived health, lower limb flexibility, and handgrip strength were found. CONCLUSION: This study supports the importance of a combined self-management and exercise intervention to improve functional lower limb strength and aerobic capacity in a Portuguese sample. Additionally, pain and other symptoms have improved clinically.

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