An Investigation Into the Role of Walking in Treating the Symptoms of Knee Osteoarthritis: The WalkOut Study

Summary

There are over 8.75 million people in the United Kingdom with osteoarthritis in their knees. The effect of this condition can be debilitating. Symptoms are due to wear and tear of the knee joint. Some people can suffer with knee pain and stiffness. This study will look at whether walking improves the symptoms of knee osteoarthritis.

Investigators will recruit anyone with knee pain over the age of 45 years in Nottingham. Participants will undergo a full assessment by a qualified Doctor. After assessment, Participants meeting the eligibility criteria will be invited to join the study. Participants will be randomly allocated into 2 groups. One group will receive standard health and exercise advice. The other group will be allocated a walking activity. This group will undertake 6,000 walking steps each day. Participants will provide pedometers to monitor this walking activity.

The effect of walking will be compared using questionnaires. These will look at pain levels, quality of life and physical activity. The participants will complete these questionnaires before the study, at the 6 week midpoint and at the end of the 12 week intervention.

Conditions

• Osteoarthritis
• Pain
• Arthritis
• Gonarthritis
• Sedentary
• Knee Osteoarthritis
• Motor Activity
• Physical Activity

Interventions

OTHER

Walking

The intervention group will be asked to walk a minimum 6,000 steps per day (7 days a week). Participants will be provided with a pedometer and daily diary to record step counts. Weekly scores will be collected via telephone contact. Followup questionnaires will be at 6, 12 and 24 months.

OTHER

Department of Health Physical Activity Guidelines

1. Adults should aim to be active daily. Over a week, activity should add up to at least 150 minutes (2½ hours) of moderate intensity activity in bouts of 10 minutes or more - one way to approach this is to do 30 minutes on at least 5 days a week. 2. Alternatively, comparable benefits can be achieved through 75 minutes of vigorous intensity activity spread across the week or combinations of moderate and vigorous intensity activity. 3. Adults should also undertake physical activity to improve muscle strength on at least two days a week. 4. All adults should minimise the amount of time spent being sedentary (sitting) for extended periods.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Nottingham

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Kimberley L Edwards, MMedSci PhD · University of Nottingham

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

45 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2015-01-31

Primary Completion

2016-04-30

Completion

2016-09-30

Countries

• United Kingdom

Study Locations