Background/Purpose: Treatment guidelines for the management of mild to moderate hip and knee osteoarthritis (OA) recommend exercise, weight management and pain medication as first-line treatment to manage and limit symptoms, structural damage and disability. However, delivery of programs within the context of these guidelines by health professionals, such as physiotherapists, poses significant challenges in many countries, largely related to access and cost, as many health care systems do not provide or provide very limited coverage for rehabilitation services. While linking the wellness and health sectors provides an opportunity to increase the availability of programs for people with OA, there is a need to determine if people are willing to participate in programs delivered by trainers delivered in community centers and gyms. The purpose of this survey was to elicit public opinion related to interest in and willingness to attend such community programs, including willingness to pay.

Methods: We conducted an online public survey during September and October 2014. Our sample included the general public in Canada, >30 years of age experiencing hip or knee pain. The 15 question survey could be completed in less than five minutes and included: age; sex; language spoken at home; province/territory of residence and proximity of community/fitness centers; no/yes to pain, aching or discomfort in or around one or both knees/hips/shoulders, hands, neck, back on most days of the past three months; ever told you have arthritis; ever told you have OA or ‘wear and tear’ in your joints; ever had a hip or knee replacement surgery; membership at a community or fitness center; frequency of exercise at a center or at home; interest in attending a program twice a week for 6 weeks; and, amount willing to pay for such a program. We calculated descriptive statistics with 95% confidence intervals for all variables. Chi-square tests were used to evaluate factors that might be associated with willingness to pay.

Results: After removing duplicate records, 751 completed the survey.  363 (51%) reported knee pain and 247 (34%) reported hip pain. Pain in other joints was reported by 482 (65%). Fifty-seven percent (423) reported that they had been told they had arthritis and 374 (51%) reported OA. Most respondents (79%) resided in British Columbia, 10% in Ontario, with the remainder in the other Canadian provinces. Those with hip or knee replacement surgery (73, 10%) were excluded from further analysis. The results were similar irrespective of joint for the remaining 408 likely to have hip and/or knee OA. Age ranged from 30 to >75 years with 260 (63.7%) aged 45 to 64 years. 86% were female. Only 2 (<1%) reported it took more than an hour to drive to a community center. 156 (38%) reported they currently had a center membership with 203 (50.4%) reporting exercise 3 days/week, 120 (29.8%) <3 days and 80 (19.9%) reporting no exercise. 297 (73.7%) were willing to attend a program and, of these, 26% were willing to pay 100 Cdn$ or more.

Conclusion: Targeted programs delivered in community/fitness centers may be a viable option to support people in managing their hip and or knee OA.

« Back to 2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting

ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/support-for-community-based-programs-for-managing-hip-and-knee-osteoarthritis-results-of-a-public-survey/