Effect of Action Observation and Motor Imagery on Arthrogenic Muscle Inhibition of the Quadriceps in Patients With End-stage Knee Gonarthrosis.

The study aims at evaluating the effects of one session of Action Observation Training (AOT) and Motor Imagery (MI) on arthrogenic muscle inhibition (AMI) of the quadriceps (QF) in subjects with end-stage gonarthrosis. 30 patients with end-stage knee osteoarthritis were enrolled. Patients were randomized in two groups (experimental group and control group). Experimental group performed one 6-minutes AOT and MI session with motor content of concentric and isometric QF contractions, whereas control group underwent a 6-minute sham AOT and MI session. Every patient was evaluated to assess the percentage of AMI on the QF before (T0) and after (T1) the treatment following the gold standard Twitch Interpolated Technique.