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Strategies for Managing Osteoarthritis

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Abstract

Background

Although there are recommendations for the management of osteoarthritis (OA), little is known about how people with OA actually manage this chronic condition.

Purpose

The aims of this study were to identify the non-pharmacological and pharmacological therapies most commonly used for the management of hip or knee OA, in a community-based sample of adults, and to compare these with evidence-based recommendations.

Methods

A questionnaire was mailed to 2,200 adult members of Arthritis Queensland living in Brisbane, Australia. It included questions about OA symptoms, management therapies, and demographic characteristics.

Results

Of the 485 participants (192 men, 293 women) with hip or knee OA who completed the questionnaire, most had mild to moderate symptoms. Ninety-six percent of participants (aged 27–95 years) reported using at least one non-pharmacological therapy, and 78% reported using at least one pharmacological therapy. The most common currently used non-pharmacological strategy was range-of-motion exercises (men 52%, women 61%, p = 0.05) and the most common frequently used pharmacological strategy was glucosamine/chondroitin (men 51%, women 60%, ns). For the most highly recommended strategies, 65% of men and 54% of women had never attended an information/education course (p = 0.04), and fewer than half (46% of women and 42% of men, p = 0.03) were frequent users of anti-inflammatory agents.

Conclusion

The findings suggest that many people with knee or hip OA do not follow the most highly endorsed of the Osteoarthritis Research Society International recommendations for management of OA. Health professionals should be encouraged to recommend evidence-based therapies to their patients.

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Authors' Note

NTMN, KCH and WJB participated in the study conception and design. NTMN participated in the recruitment of participants, data acquisition, implementation of the intervention and statistical analysis. KCH participated in the recruitment of participants, the oversight of study implementation and the statistical analysis. WJB participated in the oversight of study implementation and of the statistical analysis. All authors participated in the interpretation of the data and the drafting of the manuscript, and all authors read and approved the final manuscript. The authors have full control of all primary data, which can be reviewed if requested.

Acknowledgements

Funding for this research came from an early career grant to Dr. Heesch from The University of Queensland. Dr. Heesch was supported by a NHMRC program grant in physical activity and health (Owen, Bauman, Brown, ID #301200) at the University of Queensland, School of Human Movement Studies. Norman Ng was supported by a University of Queensland postgraduate scholarship. We also would like to thank Prof Nick Bellamy for the use of the WOMAC Index for use in this study. We are grateful to participants for their participation in the study.

Disclosure

All authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Human Movement Studies, University of Queensland, Blair Drive, St Lucia, Queensland, 4072, Australia

    Norman Tiong Meng Ng & Wendy J. Brown

  2. School of Public Health & Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, 4059, Australia

    Kristiann C. Heesch

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  1. Norman Tiong Meng Ng
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Correspondence to Norman Tiong Meng Ng.

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Ng, N.T.M., Heesch, K.C. & Brown, W.J. Strategies for Managing Osteoarthritis. Int.J. Behav. Med. 19, 298–307 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-011-9168-3

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