Technology-Enabled Self-Management of Physical Activity and Symptoms in Knee Osteoarthritis

Overview:

Evidence suggests that individuals with Osteoarthritis tend to be inactive. This might be due to pain, movement limitations and the uncertainty of the risks/benefits of exercise. However, physical activity and exercise is recommended for everyone with Osteoarthritis and is known to have benefits for Osteoarthritis and wider health.  

Helping support people to manage Osteoarthritis outside of a medical environment is beneficial as it can support longer term management of their condition, beyond the limited number of appointments with medical professionals. There have been various attempts to do this using smartphone “apps”, which have shown some promise.
  
Currently available apps either focus on one aspect of Osteoarthritis self-management (such as monitoring symptoms) or are designed to deliver structured exercise programmes for a set amount of time. We aim to expand the possibilities for facilitating long- term osteoarthritis self-management and physically activity by producing a more comprehensive and flexible app. 

Aims and Objectives:

• We aim to develop a smartphone “app” to help people with knee Osteoarthritis to maintain a physically active lifestyle and better manage their condition. 

• We will develop this app with the input and feedback from potential users and relevant experts. 

Outputs:

• Chowdhury E. ePoster presentation “P106 Planning and development of a long-term digital self-management tool for osteoarthritis: the Intelligent Knee Osteoarthritis Lifestyle App” British Society of Rheumatology Annual Conference 2021 (online, 26th–28th April).   

• Chowdhury E.A, Inza V.C, Western M.J, Walsh N.E, Bilzon J.L.J, Jones S.L. P106 Planning and development of a long-term digital self-management tool for osteoarthritis: the Intelligent Knee Osteoarthritis Lifestyle App. Rheumatology 26th April 2021.  https://doi.org/10.1093/rheumatology/keab247.103  

Work Package	Life Course Impact: Transform
Objective	2.1
Lead	Richard Stevenson
Investigators	James Bilzon and Dylan Thompson
Institution	University of Bath