Does Pre-Operative Physiotherapy Improve Outcomes in Primary Total Knee Arthroplasty?

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It is thought that pre-operative levels of knee pain, strength, flexibility and functional ability can influence the outcome of total knee joint replacement surgery. Therefore many hospitals offer pre-habilitation programmes with the aim of improving strength and range of movement of the knee with impacts on pain and function. So do these programmes work? The [read the full story…]

Health related quality of life after total hip replacement

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Do you know that over 1 million hip replacements are carried out each year? The majority of Total Hip Replacements are for people with severe arthritis of the hip that causes pain and reduction in function. We elves wanted to know for someone with osteoarthritis of the hip what are the medium term health related [read the full story…]

Does exercise improve pain and function for osteoarthritis of the knee?

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We learnt in an earlier post about the burden of musculoskeletal conditions that osteoarthritis (OA) develops around the age of 50. Blimey some of our elves are approaching that age. What can we do to help any symptoms that start to develop? We eleves are always looking to stay fit and thought that exercise might help. But [read the full story…]

Intermediate Care pathways for musculoskeletal conditions – are they working?

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In this blog, Lesley Dawson considers a systematic review examining musculoskeletal Intermediate Care pathways to evaluate their effectiveness, outcomes and identify gaps in evidence.

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What matters most for early osteoarthritis of the hip and knee?

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What questions do people in the UK think we should be working on in the area of Early Osteoarthritis of Hip and Knee. The Musculoskeletal Elf is working with The James Lind Alliance who bring together patients, carers and health and social care professionals from the UK in Priority Setting Partnerships to agree what research matters most for early osteoarthritis of the hip and knee.

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Engagement in activities following total joint replacement

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In her first guest blog Ali Rowsell, a research fellow at the University of Southampton, Faculty of Health Sciences, discussed a longitudinal qualitative study on understanding why people may or may not engage in activities following total joint replacement.

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