Researchers at University of Limerick have launched a new online resource to provide advice for people suffering with knee and hip joint pain.
The website is a free online resource aimed at providing trustworthy and evidence backed information for people with joint pain and the health professionals caring for them.
JointPain.ie features several of the most common painful joint conditions affecting middle-aged and older adults, including knee and hip osteoarthritis, which affects one in five women, and one in ten men, aged over 50 years in Ireland.
Featuring expert videos, exercises and other self-management resources, the website provides simple accessible information for understanding symptoms and treatment to empower and enable people to take control of their painful joint condition.
The Principal Investigators on the JointPain.ie project are Dr Clodagh Toomey and Dr Helen O’Leary from UL’s School of Allied Health.
In the course of conducting research on healthcare services for people with chronic hip and knee pain, they observed countless conversations with clinicians and patients which revealed a lack of available trustworthy evidence-based resources to provide people with knowledge on their painful joint conditions, and treatment options in Ireland.
Dr Clodagh Toomey, Assistant Professor at the School of Allied Health described the rationale for co-creating this resource: “There are no disease-modifying drugs for these conditions so learning how to manage pain and live well with osteoarthritis is a key part of the clinical guidelines for treatment. However, there is no consistency in how this complex information gets delivered in practice, so we found there was a huge demand for something to help support clinicians to deliver evidence-based and trustworthy information to their patients, in an understandable way.”
As part of a Knowledge Translation Award funded by the Health Research Board, and in collaboration with Arthritis Ireland and the HSE National Clinical Programme for Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery, a series of workshops were held with clinicians and people with joint pain around the country. These end users were consulted about their wants and needs from an online resource and throughout the co-design process, input was sought on an early prototype and on final versions of the website.
“Searching for medical information on the internet can be a minefield for patients with a new diagnosis so it was important to have a reliable resource with Irish voices,” Dr Toomey added.
Dr Helen O’Leary, Postdoctoral Fellow at UL’s School of Allied Health and physiotherapist at University Hospital Kerry said: “Here at University of Limerick we have internationally renowned researchers in musculoskeletal pain. We want to translate their expertise and excellence into resources that can improve the lives of people in Ireland struggling to live well with joint pain and other musculoskeletal conditions. We really hope that JointPain.ie is something GPs and physiotherapists can direct their patients to, knowing they will find simple, reliable and accessible information there.”
Stacey Grealis, patient partner on the project said: “Many people underestimate the fact that joint pain can have a real-life impact on daily living physically and emotionally, as well as affecting your work and relationships with family and friends. This resource can help educate and support people to live better with osteoarthritis.
“Patients can be overwhelmed with the amount of medical information on the internet, and this can make them reluctant to engage with online resources. Having the patient voices guiding and shaping the final resource was key. It has to meet their needs if it is to have value and longevity.
For more, see JointPain.ie.