Kneecap arthritis study - Hobart & Melbourne

Kneecap arthritis study - Hobart & Melbourne

DO YOU HAVE PAIN IN THE FRONT OF YOUR KNEE?

Why is this study being conducted?

Kneecap arthritis is one of the most common types of knee arthritis. It causes pain and stiffness in the knee particularly with activities such as walking up and down stairs, and with squatting.

However, we know little about the features of this disease or what treatments may be effective. In younger people with kneecap pain, foot orthoses improved the function of the legs and reduced kneecap pain.

Thus this study will aim to determine if people over 40 with kneecap pain, and x-ray evidence of kneecap arthritis, also experience improvement in pain and leg function with footwear or foot orthoses treatments.  

What is involved?

Forty people with kneecap arthritis will be randomly allocated to either a footwear only, or footwear + foot orthoses group. The effectiveness of these two interventions will be compared from baseline at 2 and 4 months by a series of questionnaires that will measure the improvement in kneecap pain and leg function. MRIs may also be taken at the beginning of the study, and at 4 months to determine if there is any improvement in bone marrow lesions - a feature commonly associated with knee arthritis.

What treatments are being evaluated?

All participants in the study will receive New Balance stability shoes with special features designed to reduce the collapse of the feet and knees. 

Participants in the foot orthoses group will receive a pair of custom made foot orthoses to wear in the New Balance shoe for the duration of the study.

Participants must be willing to wear the footwear, or footwear + foot orthoses as much as possible (around 8 hours a day) for the duration of the study

Would you like to be involved?

To be involved in our study, you will need to meet our eligibility criteria.

To be included in the kneecap arthritis group, you must have:

•    pain in the front of your knee joint present on most days of the last month

•    have x-ray evidence of arthritis in the kneecap (we provide this x-ray if you don't have a current one of your knee)

Hobart residents would need to attend a private podiatry practice in central Hobart, while Melbourne residents would need to attend the research laboratory in the La Trobe Sport and Exercise Medicine Research Centre at the Bundoora campus of Latrobe University on up to 3 occasions. Initial testing takes a maximum of 2 hours with followup visits a maximum of 1 hour duration. You would also need to attend a private radiology practice for a free x-ray of your knee in addition to MRIs at the beginning and completion of the study (at 4 months). The questionnaires that need to be completed at the beginning, at the 2 month mark and at the end of the study (4 months) can be completed online or hard copy if you prefer.

         

If you think you may be eligible and are interested in taking part in our study, please contact our research team via email on n.wyndow@uq.edu.au

Kneecap arthritis study - Melbourne

DO YOU HAVE PAIN IN THE FRONT OF YOUR KNEE?

Why is this study being conducted?

Kneecap arthritis is one of the most common types of knee arthritis. It causes pain and stiffness in the knee particularly with activities such as walking up and down stairs, and with squatting.

However, we know little about the features of this disease or what treatments may be effective. In younger people with kneecap pain, foot orthoses improved the function of the legs and reduced kneecap pain.

Thus this study will aim to determine if people over 40 with kneecap pain, and x-ray evidence of kneecap arthritis, also experience improvement in pain and leg function with footwear or foot orthoses treatments.  

What is involved?

Forty people with kneecap arthritis will be randomly allocated to either a footwear only, or footwear + foot orthoses group. The effectiveness of these two interventions will be compared from baseline at 2 and 4 months by a series of questionnaires that will measure the improvement in kneecap pain and leg function. MRIs may also be taken at the beginning of the study, and at 4 months to determine if there is any improvement in bone marrow lesions - a feature commonly associated with knee arthritis.

What treatments are being evaluated?

All participants in the study will receive New Balance stability shoes with special features designed to reduce the collapse of the feet and knees. 

Participants in the foot orthoses group will receive a pair of custom made foot orthoses to wear in the New Balance shoe for the duration of the study.

Participants must be willing to wear the footwear, or footwear + foot orthoses as much as possible (around 8 hours a day) for the duration of the study

Would you like to be involved?

To be involved in our study, you will need to meet our eligibility criteria.

To be included in the kneecap arthritis group, you must have:

•    pain in the front of your knee joint present on most days of the last month

•    have x-ray evidence of arthritis in the kneecap (we provide this x-ray if you don't have a current one of your knee)

You would need to attend the research laboratory in the La Trobe Sport and Exercise Medicine Research Centre at the Bundoora campus of Latrobe University on up to 3 occasions. Initial testing takes a maximum of 2 hours with followup visits a maximum of 1 hour duration. You would also need to attend a private radiology practice for a free x-ray of your knee in addition to MRIs at the beginning and completion of the study (at 4 months). The questionnaires that need to be completed at the beginning, at the 2 month mark and at the end of the study (4 months) can be completed online or hard copy if you prefer.

         

 If you think you may be eligible and are interested in taking part in our study, please contact our research team via email on n.wyndow@uq.edu.au

Are you healthy and over 40 years of age?

Then we would like to hear from you!

Have you not had any major surgery or injuries
in your back, legs and feet?

We need healthy control subjects for a study looking at the differences in foot & ankle structure & muscle activity patterns in healthy people over 40, compared to people over 40 with kneecap arthritis 

The study will take approx. 2.5 hours 

It will involve measurements of foot & ankle structure and muscle activity of the legs during tasks such as stepping & squatting

If you are interested then please contact Narelle 

n.wyndow@uq.edu.au

Why is this study being conducted?

Kneecap arthritis is one of the most common types of knee arthritis. It causes pain and stiffness in the knee particularly with activities such as walking up and down stairs, and with squatting.

However, we know little about the features of this disease or what treatments may be effective. In younger people with kneecap pain, foot and ankle structure and muscle activity during a variety of tasks are different compared to people of the same age without kneecap pain. 

This study will aim to determine if people over 40 with kneecap pain, and x-ray evidence of kneecap arthritis, have different foot and ankle structure, and muscle function to people of a similar age who have no injuries of their lower limb. 

What is involved?

For the first study, 40 people who have pain in the kneecap region, and 30 people with no lower limb injuries will recruited from the general population. This study aims to compare the differences in structure of the legs and feet in people who have kneecap pain and arthritis to those, of a similar age, who have no pain.  Muscle patterns of the legs when stepping up and down stairs will also be compared.

Would you like to be involved?

To be involved in our study, you will need to meet our eligibility criteria.

To be included in the healthy control group, you must have:

• no pain in the front of the knee with any activity

You would need to attend the research laboratory in the School of Biomedical Sciences at the St Lucia campus of the University of Queensland. 

            If you are a healthy control participant with no knee pain, then you would only need to attend the research laboratory on one occasion.  Testing takes a maximum of 2.5 hours. There are 3 questionnaires that can be completed online or hard copy if you prefer.

         

            If you think you may be eligible and are interested in taking part in our study, please contact our research team via email on n.wyndow@uq.edu.au

Kneecap arthritis study

DO YOU HAVE PAIN IN THE FRONT OF YOUR KNEE?

Why is this study being conducted?

Kneecap arthritis is one of the most common types of knee arthritis. It causes pain and stiffness in the knee particularly with activities such as walking up and down stairs, and with squatting.

However, we know little about the features of this disease or what treatments may be effective. In younger people with kneecap pain, foot and ankle structure and muscle activity during a variety of tasks are different compared to people of the same age without kneecap pain. In this group, using foot orthoses improved the function of the legs and reduced kneecap pain.

Thus this study will aim to determine if people over 40 with kneecap pain, and x-ray evidence of kneecap arthritis, have different foot and ankle structure, and muscle function to people of a similar age who have no injuries of their lower limb. This study will also evaluate whether footwear or foot orthoses can also improve pain and leg function in those who have kneecap arthritis.  

What is involved?

For the first study, 40 people who have pain in the kneecap region, and 30 people with no lower limb injuries will recruited from the general population. An x-ray of the knee will be needed to confirm the presence of kneecap arthritis in those with kneecap pain.  Thus the first part of this study aims to compare the differences in structure of the legs and feet in people who have kneecap pain and arthritis to those, of a similar age, who have no pain.  Muscle patterns of the legs when stepping up and down stairs will also be compared.

For the second study, the 40 people with kneecap arthritis will be randomly allocated to either a footwear only, or footwear + foot orthoses group. The effectiveness of these two interventions will be compared from baseline at 2 and 4 months by a series of questionnaires that will measure the improvement in kneecap pain and leg function. 

What treatments are being evaluated?

All participants in the second study will receive New Balance stability shoes with special features designed to reduce the collapse of the feet and knees. 

Participants in the foot orthoses group will receive a pair of custom made foot orthoses to wear in the New Balance shoe for the duration of the study.


Participants must be willing to wear the footwear, or footwear + foot orthoses as much as possible (around 8 hours a day) for the duration of the study

Would you like to be involved?

To be involved in our study, you will need to meet our eligibility criteria.

To be included in the kneecap arthritis group, you must have:

• pain in the front of your knee joint present on most days of the last month
• have x-ray evidence of arthritis in the kneecap (we provide this x-ray if you don't have a current one of your knee)

To be included in the no arthritis group, you must have:

• no pain in the front of the knee with any activity

You would need to attend the research laboratory in the School of Biomedical Sciences at the St Lucia campus of the University of Queensland. 

            If you are a healthy control participant with no knee pain, then you would only need to attend the research laboratory on one occasion.  If you have kneecap arthritis, then you would need to attend the research laboratory on up to 3 occasions. Testing takes a maximum of 2.5 hours. You would also need to attend a private radiology practice for a free x-ray of your knee. The questionnaires can be completed online or hard copy if you prefer.

         

            If you think you may be eligible and are interested in taking part in our study, please contact our research team via email on n.wyndow@uq.edu.au