Quality of Life Among Tawau Hospital Sufering From Knee Osteoarthritis With Physiotherapy

Qualitative study of How Quality of Life of Tawau Hospital Staff

Suffering from Knee Osteoarthritis have been improved at Physiotherapy Unit.

To investigate how the Quality of Life among Tawau Hospital staff suffering from Osteoarthritis (knees) have been improved using Physiotherapy intervention.

The study employs qualitative techniques to collect data. The sample population is selected from people and Tawau Hospital staff visiting the physiotherapy unit. Approximately 100 sample valid questionnaires are collected and the data collected are used for the research findings. The study evaluates the extent the physiotherapy intervention has been able to improve the quality of life of participants. The physiotherapy intervention include physical exercise, and massage. The study measures the outcome of physiotherapy intervention using VAS (visual analogue scale). The reduction of pain has been used to measure the improvement of quality of life index of participants.

Results: The results reveal that physiotherapy intervention is an effective tool to reduce the pain of patients suffering from knee OA. The results reveals that there is a significant reduction of the knee pain of participants after the physiotherapy intervention showing that physiotherapy treatment of back OA is very effective.

Conclusions: Quality of life of participants suffering from knee OA has been improved using physiotherapy interventions. However, this study does not include medication and unable to determine whether VAS reduction is solely due to the physiotherapy treatment. There is a need for further research to determine whether pain reduction is solely due to the physiotherapy treatment.

Abstract

Table of Contents

1.0 Introduction

1.1 Definition of Knee Osteoarthritis

1.2 Manual handling

1.3 Understanding the anatomy of Knee Osteoarthritis

1.4 Normal posture

1.5 Poor posture

2. Review of literature

2.1 Search strategy

2.2 Rate of Occurrence of Knee Osteoarthritis

2.3 Prevalence of Knee Osteoarthritis and Manual Handling

2.4 Causes

2.5 Background of the study

2.6 Nursing role

3. Methodology

3.1 Questionnaire Design

3.2 Subject / Participants

3.3 Ethical considerations

3.4 Data collection

3.4.1 Figure 1: Flow chart for data collection

3.5 Data analysis

4. Results

5.0 Discussion

5.1 Limitation of the study

5.2 Recommendations

Conclusion

Reflective Account

References

1.0: Introduction

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a clinical syndrome that accompanies various degree of functional limitation that reduces the quality of life. "OA is a debilitating condition characterized by knee pain, joint in-ammation and joint stiffness, and results in a substantial degree of physical disability." (Breedveld, 2004, P4). OA is characterized by a progressive loss and progressive deterioration of articular cartilage caused by reactive bone changes. Clinical manifestations reveal that OA is slowly manifested through knee and joint pain, stiffness as well as joint enlargement leading to limitation of motion. Typically, osteoarthritis is by far the most common form of arthritis and it is one of the leading causes of disability and knee pain worldwide. Any synovial joint could develop osteoarthritis; however, knees hips, and small hand joints are most commonly affected. Typically, knee osteoarthritis (OA) is caused by idiopathic and mechanical factor that alters balance of subchondral bone.

"After the hand joints, the knee is the second most common joint involved, and the disease usually evolves with increasing levels of knee pain, mobility restriction, and physical disability" (Chacon, Gonzalez, Veliz, A. et al. 2004, P377).

Generally, Osteoarthritis is commonly associated with knee pain and structural changes could occur without accompanying symptoms. OA could cause disability to people, and it is at present most common joint disease globally. In the United States, approximately 20 million people are being affected by knee osteoarthritis. (Brigham and Women's Hospital, 2009). In the UK, estimation of 8.5 million people is suffering from knee pain attributed to osteoarthritis. However, there is evidence that knee OA occur with increase in age and is more common among older people than younger generations. The risk factors that generally lead to knee osteoarthritis are obesity, muscle weakness and high bone density. (The National Collaborating Centre for Chronic Conditions, 2008). In the UK, knee osteoarthritis is the primary cause of disability, joint deformity and loss of joint mobility that have substantial health impact on individual. Knee pain is the worse problem that many people with osteoarthritis experience and people with QA generally have trouble with climbing stairs. The decrease in physical activities and increase in life expectance are the underlying factors leading to knee osteoarthritis. The increase in body weight is also an underlying determinant of knee osteoarthritis. (Rosemann, Laux, & Szecsenyi, 2007). Typically, knee osteoarthritis substantially...

Typically, quality of life refers to the physical, mental, emotional well being of an individual. However, general occurrence of knee pain caused by OA could lead to a decline of quality of life. (Fallowfield, 2009).
Quality of life of people suffering from knee osteoarthritis has been the major concern among health professional globally. Typically, patients suffering from knee osteoarthritis normally undergo treatment, and the treatment and illness could affect their social, psychological, economic and biological integrity of patients. Quality of life is a complex issue that cut across various variables such as age, socioeconomic and educational levels, and cultural levels. It is generally known that the knee osteoarthritis generally reduces the quality of life of patients because patients suffering from knee osteoarthritis are exposed to early retirement, reduced labor, possible total joint replacement, expensive medical care, and pressing concern of shorter life expectancy. Moreover, an individual with knee QA also suffers from sleep disturbances, depression, and anxiety. Despite the impact of knee QA on patients' quality of life, there is still a paucity of research on how the quality of life of Tawau Hospital staff's suffering from Osteoarthrits (knees) could be ameliorated with physiotherapy intervention. Typically, many researches on knee OA generally focus on advanced countries.

This study attempts to fill the gap by investigating how the quality of life of staff Tawau Hospital staff suffering from Osteoarthritis (knees) could be ameliorated with the physiotherapy intervention. .

The study formulates research objective to enhance greater understanding of the quality of life among Tawau Hospital staff suffering from Osteoarthritis (knees).

Research Objective

To investigate how the Quality of Life among Tawau Hospital staff with Osteoarthritis (knees) have been treated in Physiotherapy Unit.

The focus of this research is to explore the impact of rehabilitation on the patients suffering from knee osteoarthritis with the case of Tawau Hospital staff.

The findings of this research will assist management of different hospitals and clinical professionals to improve the health outcome of patients suffering from knee OA.

Research Questions

What is the health impact of people suffering from Osteoarthritis (knees)?

How are impact of physiotherapy intervention had led to improvement of quality of life of Tawau Hospital staff suffering from Osteoarthrits (knees)?

How the Quality of Life among Tawau Hospital staff with Osteoarthritis (knees) have been treated in Physiotherapy Unit.

1.1: Definition of Knee Osteoarthritis

Knee Osteoarthritis is defined as an unpleasant emotional and sensory experience associated with potential or actual tissue damage. On the other hand, acute knee OA is identified as a causal and temporal relationship to disease or injury. Knee Osteoarthritis may affect bony spine, lead to spinal inflammation as well as affecting discs between the vertebrae. The knee osteoarthritis could also affect muscles, spinal cord, nerves, and internal organs of the pelvis. Typically, chronic knee osteoarthritis may persist over a long time with no identifiable cause. Knee osteoarthritis is one of the common health problem that health professional encounters. Aoki, et al. (2012) point out that low knee pain is a significant clinical problem. While low knee OA may disappear within two weeks, however knee pain may become chronic and very difficult to manage. Knee OA is generally associated with depression and the rate of depression increases with increase in acute knee pain. Meanwhile, combination of severe knee OA and depression is the strongest predictor of disability. (Currie, & Wang, 2005).

1.2: Manual Handling

Manual handling is being regarded as one of the major risk factors for knee OA. Manual handling is the activity that involves handling, holding, lifting or pushing of loads by hand. However, manual handling may cause cumulative disorder and gradual deterioration of musculoskeletal system due to continuous handling and lifting activities. A knee OA could occur through manual handling of heavy loads and through frequent bending and twisting. The manual handling is frequently encountered in many occupations where workers are obliged to frequently lift and transfer object. There is evidence that these tasks could generate high spinal stresses, which could lead to disorders of the musculoskeletal system. (Harrianto, Samara, Tjhin et al. 2009).

1.3: Anatomy of Knee OA

Anatomy of the knee OA is the study of the knee bone that could lead to knee OA. Knee joint is connected with two bones known as the tibia (shin bone) and femur (thigh bone). The femur consists of two adjacent condyles. On the other hand, the tibia has two sockets (slightly cup-shaped) to meet the femoral condyles. A healthy knee alignment has femoral condyles that rest evenly on the tibia as well as applying evenly to both sides. However, knee deformity could lead to asymmetrical force distributions. A valgus (knock-kneed) deformity occurs when the knees closer together than…