Self-Management of Hip Osteoarthritis Five Years After a Cycling and Education Treatment Pathway

• Main Authors: Thomas W Wainwright, Louise C Burgess, Tikki Immins, Robert G Middleton
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-02-01
• Series: Healthcare
• Subjects: hip; osteoarthritis; physical therapy; total hip replacement (thr); exercise; cycling
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/8/1/37

<b> </b>The Cycling against Hip Pain (CHAIN) programme is a six-week cycling and education treatment pathway for people with hip osteoarthritis. Preliminary results demonstrated significant improvements in clinical and patient-reported outcome measures following the course. Whilst the benefits of exercise for osteoarthritis are often reported in the short term, less is known about the long-term effects for this patient group. This study explores whether participants continued to self-manage their hip osteoarthritis five years after completing the course. A cross-sectional survey was conducted to collect data from participants who completed the CHAIN programme between October 2013 and February 2015 (<i>n</i> = 96). Questionnaires were sent by post in April 2019, and then non-responders were followed up again four weeks later. Eighty-three (87%) participants responded to the survey. Five years (range 4&#8722;6) after completion of a six-week cycling and education programme, 37 (45%) participants had not returned to their general practitioner for further treatment of their hip pain, and 47 (57%) had not pursued surgical intervention. All participants were still engaged in at least one physical activity per week and many reported that they had purchased a bike (29%), joined a gym (30%) or cycled regularly (indoor cycling 25%, outdoor cycling 24%). Eighty (96%) participants reported an increase in knowledge of self-managing their symptoms. The findings from this study suggest that many patients are motivated to self-manage their hip osteoarthritis, five years following a six-week cycling and education treatment pathway that encourages lifestyle change.