Article

Although several guidelines recommend that treatment programmes in
patients with hand osteoarthritis should be both multidisciplinary and multidimensional, currently no such treatment programme for hand osteoarthritis
has been described. Therefore the aim of this study was to systematically develop
a multidisciplinary and multidimensional non-pharmacological treatment programme
and to give a detailed description on the content of this treatment programme.
The programme was developed in phases. In
a preclinical theoretical phase, disease-specific problems, current evidence and
the influence of patient characteristics on the benefit of interventions were
explored. In a modelling phase, the treatment programme was designed. The programme contains an individual intake, four weekly nurse and
occupational therapist-led group sessions and a booster session after six months.
Treatment components of the programme are self-management, daily home exercises
to enhance joint mobility and grip strength and education about ergonomic
principles. The treatment programme is tailored to the needs of individual
patients with hand osteoarthritis. CONCLUSIONS: A non-pharmacological
multidisciplinary and multidimensional treatment programme for patients with hand
osteoarthritis was developed. Further research is necessary to investigate the
effectiveness of this treatment programme. Currently, the programme is being
evaluated in an ongoing randomized clinical trial.

Langue : ANGLAIS