Characterising Relationship between Activity level and Knee Function

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Characterising the relationship between activity level and knee function, using wearable activity trackers, in patients presenting with knee pain at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital.

  • IRAS ID

    227476

  • Contact name

    Jan Herman Kuiper

  • Contact email

    jan.kuiper@nhs.net

  • Sponsor organisation

    Keele University

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    0 years, 9 months, 2 days

  • Research summary

    Knee function, quantified by patient-reported outcome measures, varies widely between patients following surgical intervention. One factor thought to play a part in this variability is the patient’s activity levels. However, the precise effect of activity levels on the reported function of the knee, remains largely uncharacterised. This poses a problem for the clinical evaluation of knee function, as currently available validated scoring systems do not accurately take activity levels into account and may therefore be prone to unwanted variation on a short-term basis. Also, a particular concern is that more active patients may load their knee more, potentially evoking more symptoms and paradoxically resulting in a lower functional outcome. Therefore understanding the relationship between knee function and activity levels, particularly on an individual patient basis, is important. By using wearable activity trackers, we will be able to gain an objective measure of day-to-day physical activity levels, alongside a validated knee function score (the Lysholm score). Another factor that we suspect may play a part in the patient specific interaction between activity levels and knee function is the patient's attitude to pain, and their pain coping strategies. In order to investigate this interaction, we will be using validated scoring systems that assess affect and attitudes to pain, alongside activity monitoring and knee function scoring.

  • REC name

    South Central - Berkshire Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    19/SC/0518

  • Date of REC Opinion

    17 Feb 2020

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion