Pain reduction seen for in-person or digital delivery of education and exercise instruction for hip, knee osteoarthritis<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
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TUESDAY, Nov. 8, 2022 (HealthDay News) — First-line intervention for hip or knee osteoarthritis (OA) may reduce pain whether delivered in-person or digitally, according to a study published online Nov. 3 in JAMA Network Open<\/em>.<\/p>\n Therese J \u00b6nsson, Ph.D., from Lund University in Sweden, and colleagues compared mean pain reduction among individuals with OA of the knee or hip who underwent face-to-face versus digital first-line intervention (education and exercise). Analysis included 6,946 patients receiving first-line treatment in primary care (61 percent face-to-face treatment and 39 percent digital treatment) between April 1, 2018, and Dec. 31, 2019.<\/p>\n The researchers found that both the face-to-face (mean change, \u00e2\u0088\u00921.10 points) and digital interventions (mean change, \u00e2\u0088\u00921.87 points) resulted in a clinically important pain reduction at three months, with participants in the digitally delivered intervention experiencing a larger estimated improvement at three months (adjusted mean difference, \u00e2\u0088\u00920.93 points).<\/p>\n “In this study, first-line interventions for knee and hip osteoarthritis over three months were associated with clinically relevant improvements in pain, whether delivered face-to-face or digitally,” the authors write. “We suggest that first-line OA interventions should be offered both digitally and face-to-face and that persons with knee and hip OA should be able to choose the mode of treatment delivery they prefer to reach as many persons with OA as possible.”<\/p>\n One author disclosed receiving consulting fees from Arthro Therapeutics.<\/p>\n