An educational leaflet for patients with patellofemoral pain
Patellofemoral is a common condition in patients with knee complaints and accounts for 16.5% of all consultation in sports medicine clinics. After creating the ‘Best Practice Guide to Conservative Management of Patellofemoral Pain’ the question arose as to how patients education in clinical practice can be provided. Research revealed that only verbally provided education resulted in poor knowledge retention. Thus, the purpose of this study was to develop a brief and comprehensive evidence-based leaflet on the management of PFP.
The authors created a preliminary educational leaflet, written with simplified language to ensure readability for every patient. This preliminary version was sent to 2 international experts worldwide, accompanied with a semistructured online survey. This survey provided questions on accuracy, adequacy, and clarity of the provided information in the leaflet. The survey data were evaluated using a ‘Framework Analysis’ approach. In addition, 20 patients with PFP were asked to provide feedback on the leaflet. The leaflet was adapted based on the previous feedback and was provided to each of the participating experts again to receive a final feedback.
Key changes to the leaflet included:
- The use of the term ‘therapist’ instead of ‘physiotherapist’ to ensure a applicability to different health professions
- Stating that rest may be needed to settle symptoms before starting exercise rehabilitation
- A reduction of biomechanical information
- Emphasising ‘overuse’ may be the key reason behind PFP development
The feedback of the patients was overall positive and no further modifications to the leaflet were needed.
The leaflet is designed as an adjunct to facilitate patient education and should not be used as a stand-alone intervention. Patient education has proven to be effective in several chronic musculoskeletal conditions, and it is therefore an essential part of multimodal
treatment. The ‘Managing My Patellofemoral Pain’ education leaflet developed in this study provides a valuable resource for patients, clinicians and researchers to assist the provision of education and improve knowledge retention.
> From: Barton et al., BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med 2 (2016) e000086(Epub ahead of print). All rights reserved to BMJ Publishing Group Ltd..Click here for the Pubmed summary.
