Trial Status: Open
Osteoarthritis is becoming more common as the population ages, and the accompanying costs are increasing dramatically. Exercise is recommended for all people with osteoarthritis. However, these recommendations are based on clinical trials including people aged between 60 and 70 years, and these findings cannot be generalised to people aged 80 years or older.
Rapid loss of muscle occurs after 70 years of age, and older people are more likely to have health conditions that contribute to difficulties with daily activities and impacting on their response to exercise. To improve care for people aged 80 or older with osteoarthritis, it is thought that a tailored exercise intervention targeting both osteoarthritis and other health conditions they have, may be needed.
The aim of this study, funded by Versus Arthritis, is to see if it is possible to conduct a trial to evaluate a tailored exercise programme for people aged 80 years or older with hip/knee osteoarthritis and comorbidities. The programme has been designed by physiotherapists and patients.
Three methods of patient recruitment will be used: screening of GP registers; via an existing questionnaire study and via NHS physiotherapy referrals. Participants will be allocated at random to one of two groups:
1. The TEMPO programme: four to eight sessions with a physiotherapist over 12 weeks and a home exercise programme. Sessions will include education, aerobic, joint movement, muscle strengthening and balance exercises, and a supervised walking programme, tailored to each persons abilities and other health conditions.
2. Care as recommended by the participants GP (known as usual care). This group will also receive an information booklet about hip/knee osteoarthritis including exercises.
We will interview some of the patient participants and the physiotherapists who deliver the programme at the end of the study, and ask them what they thought of the study, and how it could be improved.