PEOPLE who are going to have a hip or knee replacement in the next six months are needed to take part in a University of South Australia study.
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The research will look at the impact of the two types of surgery on day-to-day function, quality of life and activity levels.
Health sciences researcher and physiotherapy lecturer Julie Walters said there were about 3000 hip replacements and 4000 knee replacements in South Australia last year, with the number rising annually.
“Anecdotally we hear that people are having them done to reduce pain and increase their ability to participate in functional and other activities,” Dr Walters said.
“But we also hear that after surgery, people’s participation hasn’t changed as much as they’d hoped or expected it to.
“This research will help us to find out how much joint replacement does improve day-to-day function so people have all the information they need before deciding to have it done.”
Dr Walter said the wait time for joint replacement surgery in the public health system could be up to three years from referral to a surgeon to having the surgery.
“Before that people are usually on medication to help with the pain and gradually reduce their activities so they don’t aggravate the joint as much,” she said.
“Of course doing less means that other parts of the body are affected, muscles get weaker and fitness drops so the affected joint has a significant and lasting impact on people’s pre-operative way of life.”
The research team is looking for about 50 people.
Participants will be asked to answer some telephone and paper questionnaires about their pain and how they use their time before and after surgery.
Anyone interested in taking part can call Dr Walters on 8302-2587 or email Julie.walters@unisa.edu.au
