Self‐management of osteoarthritis

Abstract

Osteoarthritis is the most prevalent activity‐limiting condition among older persons. In addition to, or instead of, taking nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs, people use a variety of activities to manage their osteoarthritis. This study describesthe self‐management methods reported by 61 participants aged 60 years or older assessed on two occasions 8 months apart. A questionnaire was developed to assess levels of use of 10 self‐management methods including low‐impact activity, rest, range‐of‐motion exercises, relaxation, heat (or cold), taking medication, jointprotection, massage, splints, and any other activity. On a typical day, participants usedabout four of these activities to manage Osteoarthritis symptoms, and significantly more on a day that their arthritis was worse than usual. Three self‐management scales were formed from groups of activities suggested by factor analysis (medication taking, typical management, and worse‐day passive management) that demonstrated adequate internal consistency and stability across the two assessments. The findings are discussed in terms of the importance of developing a brief measure of Osteoarthritis self‐management, and the substantial individual variation in subsets of methods used. Copyright © 1993 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA