A new physical activity program for people with knee osteoarthritis: A pilot study

Participants Needed!

Being physically active has been shown to reduce pain and improve quality of life in people with knee osteoarthritis (OA). However, many people with osteoarthritis do not meet the recommended levels or physical activity, which could be due to lack of motivation, doubts about effectiveness of exercises, and lack of health professional advice on ways to progress physical activity.

To address this challenge, we have developed a physical activity counselling program that uses fitness wearables to help people with knee OA or knee pain be more physically active safely and at their own pace. The program involves:

1. A group education session on physical activity and arthritis management
2. The use of a Fitbit wrist band
3. Telephone counselling by a registered physiotherapist using a new Fitbit compatible web app, called FitViz

To test if the application is user friendly and easy to navigate, we will recruit 10 participants with knee OA or persistent knee pain to conduct a pilot study for a 1-month duration. Participants in the pilot study will start the program right away, which includes attending a group education session, using the Fitbit wrist band with the new application FitViz, and receiving telephone counselling from a physiotherapist.

Participants will be asked to complete online questionnaires and wear an armband accelerometer for 7 days at the beginning and end of 1 month. Participants will be interviewed at the end about their experience with the FitViz application.

For more information, please click here.

Principal Investigator
Dr. Linda Li

Co-investigators
Lynne Feehan, Fraser Health Authority
Paul Adam, Mary Pack Arthritis Centre
Antonio Aviña-Zubeita, University of British Columbia
Catherine Backman, University of British Columbia
Diane Gromala, Simon Fraser University
Alison Hoens, University of British Columbia
Greg Noonan, Mary Pack Arthritis Centre
Chris Shaw, Simon Fraser University
Richard Smith, Simon Fraser University
Anne Townsend, University of British Columbia

Collaborators
Cheryl Koehn, President, Arthritis Consumer Experts