Treatment of knee pain in primary care: Pharmacists and physiotherapists need to be a part of the team

doi:10.1136/bmj.39024.417813.BE

BMJ 2006;333:981-982 (11 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.39024.417813.BE

Editorials

Treatment of knee pain in primary care

Pharmacists and physiotherapists need to be a part of the team

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

In the United Kingdom, general practitionershave traditionally been seen as the key players in primary caredelivery, with support from a multidisciplinary team. As primarycare extends its remit into areas such as minor surgery, teammembers are likely to come from diverse health disciplines.Recent studies show that patients presenting to primary carewith knee pain receive little information on pain management,rehabilitation,¹ or use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugsand few are referred to specialist services.² In this week'sBMJ, a trial by Hay and colleagues assesses the impact of pharmacyand physiotherapy on the management of older people with painor stiffness of one or both knees in primary care.³

The trial compared three interventions: enhancedpharmacy review (pharmacological management in accordance withan algorithm), community physiotherapy (advice about activityand pacing and an individualised exercise programme), and standardtreatment (control; advice leaflet reinforced by telephone . . . [Full text of this article]

Carmel M Hughes, professor of primary care pharmacy and Cochrane fellow¹, Chris M Bleakley, physiotherapist and research associate²

¹ School of Pharmacy, Queen's University, Belfast BT9 7BL , ² Health and Rehabilitation Sciences Research Institute, University of Ulster, Jordanstown, Newtownabbey BT37 0QB

c.hughes@qub.ac.uk

CiteULike

Complore

Connotea

Del.icio.us Add to Digg

Digg

Technorati What's this?

Relevant Article

Impact of nurse practitioners on workload of general practitioners: randomised controlled trial: Miranda G H Laurant, Rosella P M G Hermens, Jozé C C Braspenning, Bonnie Sibbald, and Richard P T M Grol
BMJ 2004 328: 927. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Need for Integrated Patient Care Pathway: Suresh Kumar Chhetri
bmj.com, 13 Nov 2006 [Full text]
treatment of knee pain: edwin n wardle
bmj.com, 15 Nov 2006 [Full text]
Physio and acupuncture: Rod N Mitchell
bmj.com, 16 Nov 2006 [Full text]
Knee Pain in Primary Care Treatment: Mark R Palmer
bmj.com, 28 Nov 2006 [Full text]