Can you help? What questions do people in the UK think we should be working on in the area of Early Osteoarthritis of Hip and Knee.

Osteoarthritis is a condition that causes the joints to become painful and stiff. It is the most common type of arthritis in the UK. The severity of symptoms can vary greatly from person to person, and between different affected joints. Symptoms can be mild and may come and go, whereas others can experience more continuous and severe problems. Symptoms can include pain, tenderness, stiffness, and reduced movement in the hip and knee.

The Musculoskeletal Elf is working with The James Lind Alliance (JLA) who bring together patients, carers and health and social care professionals in Priority Setting Partnerships (PSPs) to agree what research matters most in given disease areas.

A previous Priority Setting Partnership for hip and knee osteoarthritis dealt with hip and knee replacement surgery, a treatment usually reserved for late stage disease. This second PSP tackles problems relating to hip and knee arthritis occurring earlier in the development of the disease i.e. leading up to joint replacement. The new PSP will address research needs for any stage of the disease or treatment, except hip and knee replacement surgery.

We want to know what questions people in the UK think we should be working on in the area of Early Osteoarthritis of Hip and Knee.

The link below will take you to a national online survey to gather your questions. The survey closing date has been extended beyond April into May so please help

• Early Osteoarthritis of Hip and Knee Priority Setting Partnership Survey

However, if you prefer a paper copy, you can contact us and we will send it to you.

What will we do with your questions?

All the questions we receive will be gathered, grouped by topic and checked against published research to see if they have already been answered. If we find answers to any questions we will use this website to ensure the answers are made known to those to whom they will be useful.

The questions which have not already been answered will be ranked to find out which are the most important. This process will involve those directly affected by early osteoarthritis, carers and health and social care professionals. If you are interested in taking part in this, tell us either when you fill in the survey, or contact us directly.

The result will be a ‘Top 10’ list of research questions. These will be published and shared publicly. We will then work together with researchers and research funders and where appropriate, the pharmaceutical industry, so that research is conducted to find the answers to these questions.

The James Lind Alliance (JLA) will facilitate this process and ensure transparency, accountability and fairness.

For more information visit this website