Objective: Previous trials demonstrated the effectiveness of exercise in improving pain and functional impairment in patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA). However, a bibliometric analysis of top-cited papers on exercise treatment for KOA has not yet been conducted. The aim of the present study was to critically analyze the bibliometric characteristics of the most frequently cited articles on exercise treatment for KOA.
Materials and methods: Publications about exercise treatment for KOA from 2000 to 2021 were searched from the Web of Science database. Two authors independently collected 100 top-cited articles, and a consensus was reached to form the final list. The title, journal, author, year of publication, country and institution of origin, total citations, citations in 2021, main topics, research nature, and level of evidence were extracted, and the publication trends in exercise treatment for KOA were evaluated.
Results: A total of 1,258 papers were retrieved from the database. According to the final list, clinical research accounted for 81% of the studies, but no statistical difference in the number of citations was found among the four types of articles (p=0.194). Seventy articles had a level of evidence of Ib, and no statistical differences in citations were found per level of evidence (p=0.767). Most of the top-cited articles were published between 2005-2014, and Dr Messier was the prominent writer in this field.
Conclusions: This bibliometric study is the first to identify the most cited papers in exercise treatment for KOA research. Traditional Chinese exercise, comorbidity, and exercise adherence may be the next popular research trends that will receive more attention in the future.