BackgroundPhysical activity on prescription (PAP) is a successful intervention for increasing physical activity among patients with a sedentary lifestyle. The method seems to be sparsely used by general practitioners (GPs) and there is limited information about GPs’ attitudes to counselling using PAP as a tool. The aim of the study was to explore and understand the meaning of prescribing physical activity from the general practitioner’s perspective.MethodsThree focus group interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 15 Swedish GPs in the south of Sweden. Participants were invited to talk about their experience of using PAP. The interviews were transcribed verbatim, analysed using qualitative content analysis.ResultsThe analysis resulted in four categories: The tradition makes it hard to change attitude, Shared responsibility is necessary, PAP has low status and is regarded with distrust and Lack of procedures and clear guidelines. Traditionally GPs talk with patients about the importance of an increased level of physical activity but they do not prescribe physical activity as a treatment. Physician’s education focuses on the use of pharmaceuticals. The responsibility for patients’ physical activity level is shared with other health professionals, the patient and society. The GPs express reservations about prescribing physical activity. A heavy workload is a source of frustration. PAP is regarded with distrust and considered to be a task of less value and status. Using a prescription to emphasize an increased level is considered to be redundant and the GPs think it should be administered by someone else in the health care system. Scepticism about the result of the method was also expressed.ConclusionsThere is uncertainty about using PAP as a treatment since physicians lack education in non-pharmaceutical methods. The GPs do not regard the written referral as a prioritized task and rather refer to other professionals in the health care system to prescribe PAP. GPs pointed out a need to create routines and arrangements for the method to gain credibility and become everyday practice among GPs.

We evaluated a structured education- and exercise-based self-management program for patients with knee or hip osteoarthritis (OA), using a registry-based study of data from 44,634 patients taken from the Swedish “Better Management of Patients with Osteoarthritis” registry. Outcome measures included a numeric rating scale (NRS), EuroQol five dimension scale (EQ-5D), Arthritis self-efficacy scale (ASES-pain and ASES-other symptoms), pain frequency, any use of OA medication, desire for surgery, fear–avoidance behavior, physical activity, and sick leave were reported at baseline, 3 and 12 month. Changes in scale variables were analyzed using general linear models for repeated measures and changes in binary variables by McNamara’s test. All analyses were stratified by joint. At the 3-month follow-up, patients with knee (n = 30686) and hip (n = 13948) OA reported significant improvements in the NRS-pain, the EQ-5D index, the ASES-other symptoms, and ASES-pain scores with standardized effect size (ES) ranges for patients with knee OA of 0.25–0.57 and hip OA of 0.15–0.39. Significantly fewer patients reported pain more than once weekly, took OA medication, desired surgery, showed fear–avoidance behavior, and were physically inactive. At the 12-month follow-up, patients with knee (n = 21647) and hip (n = 8898) OA reported significant improvements in NRS-pain, EQ-5D index, and a decrease in ASES-other symptoms and ASES-pain scores with an ES for patients with knee OA of –0.04 to 0.43 and hip OA of –0.18 to 0.22. Significantly fewer patients reported daily pain, desired surgery (for hip OA), reported fear–avoidance behavior, and reported sick leave. Following these interventions, patients with knee and hip OA experienced significant reductions in symptoms and decreased willingness to undergo surgery, while using less OA medication and taking less sick leave. The results indicate that offering this program as the first-line treatment for OA patients may reduce the burden of this disease.

BackgroundOsteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative disease, considered to be one of the major public health problems. Research suggests that patient education is feasible and valuable for achieving improvements in quality of life, in function, well-being and improved coping. Since 1994, Primary Health Care in Malmö has used a patient education programme directed towards OA. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of this education programme for patients with OA in primary health care in terms of self-efficacy, function and self-perceived health.MethodThe study was a single-blind, randomized controlled trial (RCT) in which the EuroQol-5D and Arthritis self-efficacy scale were used to measure self-perceived health and self-efficacy and function was measured with Grip Ability Test for the upper extremity and five different functional tests for the lower extremity.ResultsWe found differences between the intervention group and the control group, comparing the results at baseline and after 6 months in EuroQol-5D (p < 0.001) and in standing one leg eyes closed (p = 0.02) in favour of the intervention group. No other differences between the groups were found.ConclusionThis study has shown that patient education for patients with osteoarthritis is feasible in a primary health care setting and can improve self-perceived health as well as function in some degree, but not self-efficacy. Further research to investigate the effect of exercise performance on function, as well as self-efficacy is warranted.Trial registrationThe trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov. Registration number: NCT00979914

BackgroundTo explore the level of physical activity in a population based sample of older adults; to analyze the influence of pain characteristics and fear-avoidance beliefs as predictors of physical activity among older adults reporting chronic pain.MethodsDemographics, pain characteristics (duration, intensity), physical activity, kinesiophobia (excessive fear of movement/(re) injury), self-efficacy and self-rated health were measured with questionnaires at baseline and 12-months later. Logistic regression analyses were done to identify associations at baseline and predictors of physical activity 12-months later during follow-up.ResultsOf the 1141 older adults (mean age 74.4 range 65–103 years, 53.5 % women) included in the study, 31.1 % of those with chronic pain were sufficiently active (scoring ≥ 4 on Grimby’s physical activity scale) compared to 56.9 % of those without chronic pain. Lower age (OR = 0.93, 95 % CI = 0.88-0.99), low kinesiophobia OR = 0.95, 95 % CI = 0.91–0.99), and higher activity level at baseline (OR = 10.0, 95 % CI = 4.98–20.67) significantly predicted higher levels of physical activity in individuals with chronic pain.ConclusionThe level of physical activity was significantly lower among those with chronic pain and was significantly associated with kinesiophobia. Our findings suggest that fear- avoidance believes plays a more important role in predicting future physical activity levels than pain characteristics. Thus our findings are important to consider when aiming to increase physical activity in older adults that have chronic pain.

BackgroundThe contribution of kinesiophobia (fear of movement) to the pain experience among older adults has been poorly evaluated. The aim of this study was to study prevalence at baseline, development over a 12-month period and cognitive-affective variables of kinesiophobia in a population-based sample of older adults with chronic pain.MethodsThe study included 433 older adults (+65 years) with chronic pain (mean age 74.8 years) randomly selected using a Swedish register of inhabitants. Kinesiophobia was measured at baseline and 12-month follow-up with the 11-item version of the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK-11). Associations of demographic-, cognitive affective - and pain-related variables to kinesiophobia were analysed with linear regression analyses.ResultsThe mean level of kinesiophobia was low. Worsening and recovering from kinesiophobia occurred over time, but the mean level of kinesiophobia remained unchanged (p = 0.972). High levels of kinesiophobia (TSK ≥35) were found among frailer and older adults predominately living in care homes, but not dependent on sex. Poor self-perceived health (OR = 8.84) and high pain intensity (OR = 1.22) were significantly associated with kinesiophobia.ConclusionResults indicate that potential interventions regarding kinesiophobia among older adults should aim to decrease pain intensity and strengthen health beliefs.