INTRODUCTION: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic degenerative joint disease that is evidenced by the wear of joint's cartilage, in which often reaches the joints that support weight, like knee. OBJECTIVE: To describe the principal evidence associated with the use of exercise in improving symptoms of osteoarthritis resulting in individuals over 50 years. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a systematic review of literature with the use of electronic databases of journals indexed: National Library of Medicine (MEDLINE - PubMed), Latin American and Caribbean Center on Health Sciences (LILACS), and based Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO). RESULTS: There were 1405 articles were selected in the databases SciELO, LILACS, PubMed and MEDLINE with these 101 articles were selected. Among the areas affected by osteoarthritis, the knee was the most frequently mentioned, followed by knee and hip together, other regions were also cited with less intensity. The exercises that have become more prominent were water exercises, isokinetic, muscle strength training, walking, and health education has also been widely used in selected studies. CONCLUSION: It was found that through this review that studies show the efficacy of exercise in improving the symptoms caused by osteoarthritis, but there is no consensus on the application parameters such as intensity and duration of each exercise.
Osteoarthritis; Physical exercise; Therapeutics; Physical therapy
