Investigation of the efficacy of telephone follow-up in patients with knee osteoarthritis

Purpose:The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of monthly telephone calls on symptoms, function and general health status of patients with knee osteoarthritis who were given an education about knee osteoarthritis and joint protection recommendations and a home based exercise program.Material Method:Sixty patients who applied to the Dokuz Eylül University Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation policlinic and diagnosed as knee osteoarthritis were included in the study. The patients were evaluated by visual analog scale (VAS) for their pain, Western Ontario McMaster Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) for knee pain, stiffness and functionality, Short Form-36 (SF-36) index for quality of life.Patients recieved information about knee osteoarthritis and joint protection recommendations, and given a home exercise program twice in a day for five days of the week for six months. They were also given a printed information about this recommendations and the exercises.Patients were randomly assigned to two groups. Group I recieved joint protection recommendations, exercise and monthly telephone calls for six months. The telephone calls took two minutes and done monthly. During the calls patients were asked whether they have knee pain, do exercise or not, given information and suggestions about the knee pain and exercises. Group II recieved joint protection recommendations and exercise, but not telephone calls, for six months.At the end of the six months, the patients in two groups reevaluated by visual analog scale (VAS), Western Ontario McMaster Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), quality of life index Short Form-36 (SF-36).Results:Before treatment, group I patients had significantly higher physical functioning, physical role difficulty and physical summary score of SF-36 and significantly lower movement painVAS than group II patients.In both groups, pain VAS, WOMAC and SF-36 scores significantly reduced after treatment.In group I, pain, general health, social function, mental health, physical summary score and mental summary scores of SF-36 were significantly higher than group II. Also group I patients exercised more regularly than group II patients.Conclusion:Patient education, joint protection recommendations and home based exercise program were effective in knee osteoarthritis. Monthly telephone calls may contribute additional improvements in pain and psychosocial function scores and increase adherence to exercises in patients with knee osteoarthrtitisKeywords: Knee osteoarthritis, telephone, education, exercise