I16. Community-Based Management of Osteoarthritis

Abstract

Currently 8.5 million people in the UK are affected by OA; it accounts for 15% of all general practitioner consultations in the over-45s; and is a major cause of years lived with disability. As the population ages, becomes heavier and adopts less active lifestyles, the public health impact of the condition is a growing concern. Evidence based guidelines recommend exercise and education as core modalities for OA to reduce pain and increase function; physiotherapists are ideally placed and appropriately skilled to provide this advice, but timely access to NHS treatment is a growing problem in the face of increasing referrals and limited personnel resources. As such a strategic healthcare and public health approach to long-term management is required to ensure people receive timely access to effective interventions, with appropriately trained staff, and which they commit to in order to achieve long-term health benefits. In recent years community based exercise delivered by non-healthcare professionals has gained prevalence as demands on primary and secondary care healthcare services are heightened. In particular cardiac rehabilitation schemes that facilitate the transition from hospital based services to community and self-management approaches have achieved success using trained and credited leisure based exercise professionals-a model which may be suitable for other pathologies including OA. This presentation will explore the potential of community based strategies to facilitate and support long-term exercise engagement for people with OA. This will include a review of current evidence regarding this type of intervention; the role development requirements of exercise professionals to ensure safe and effective patient/client management; and prospective innovative means of providing motivational support to facilitate long-term engagement.