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Purpose: To explore the long-term impact of difficulty with kneeling and how healthcare services could be improved to help patients kneel after total knee replacement., Patients and Methods: Telephone interviews were conducted with 56 patients who had extreme difficulty kneeling at 7-10 years after knee replacement. Patients were asked about reasons for difficulty kneeling, how it impacted upon their lives, and experiences of healthcare services. Responses were recorded on a standardized proforma and a descriptive content analysis performed., Results: Most people had difficulty kneeling because of pain or discomfort in the replaced knee. Many patients described how this limitation affected their daily lives, including housework, gardening, religious practices, leisure activities and getting up after a fall. Patients often adapted to these limitations by finding alternatives to kneeling, assistance from others or home adaptations. Many patients had accepted that they could not kneel, however some still expressed frustrated. Few patients had consulted with healthcare professionals about kneeling difficulties, and unmet needs included the provision of information about kneeling and post-operative physiotherapy., Interpretation: This study provides an initial insight into how difficulty kneeling after knee replacement impacts upon patientsand the need for better healthcare provision. Implications for rehabilitation Rehabilitation professionals should be aware that many patients experience difficulty with kneeling after total knee replacement and that this has a long-term impact upon patients. There is a need for rehabilitation after knee replacement to address kneeling difficulties. It is suggested that this rehabilitation should be delivered early in the postoperative recovery phase and designed to address the multifactorial reasons that patients find kneeling problematic.

Background and purpose - There is a lack of evidence to support the role of hip precautions in preventing dislocation following total hip arthroplasty (THA). We report an exploratory study which assesses recall, adherence, and the impact of precautions on activities of daily living in the first 6 weeks postoperatively. Patients and methods - We designed a new questionnaire based on the education patients receive and refined by professionals within our multidisciplinary team. 129 patients underwent primary elective THA during the study period and received the questionnaire at 6 weeks postoperatively. Results - 97 (75%) patients responded before the 8th week postoperatively. Most of these (83 patients) could remember all the precautions. Of the 97 who responded only 22 claimed to adhere to all of the precautions. 48 admitted to putting their own underwear on without the use of aids or assistance, and 38 had started walking without an aid. Due to the precautions 67 avoided leaving the house at some point and 63 were unable to perform desired activities. 84 stated that their sleep was affected. There were no dislocations among the 97 patients who responded; however, there was 1 dislocation among the 32 non-responders. Interpretation - We found that most patients did not adhere to hip precaution advice. Precautions have a detrimental effect on patient activity and sleep. In view of the limited efficacy in reducing dislocation rate, we question the use of precautions in the primary arthroplasty setting.

Background and purpose - Psychosocial factors are important risk factors for poor outcomes in the first year after total knee replacement (TKR), however their impact on long-term outcomes is unclear. We aimed to identify preoperative psychosocial risk factors for poor outcomes at 1 year and 5 years after TKR. Patients and methods - 266 patients were recruited prior to TKR surgery. Knee pain and function were assessed preoperatively and at 1 and 5 years postoperative using the WOMAC Pain score, WOMAC Function score and American Knee Society Score (AKSS) Knee score. Preoperative depression, anxiety, catastrophizing, pain self-efficacy and social support were assessed. Statistical analyses involved multiple linear regression and mixed effect linear regression. Results - Higher anxiety was a risk factor for worse pain at 1 year postoperative. No psychosocial factors were associated with any outcomes at 5 years postoperative. Analysis of change over time found that patients with higher pain self-efficacy had lower preoperative pain and experienced less improvement in pain up to 1 year postoperative. Higher pain self-efficacy was associated with less improvement in the AKSS up to 1 year postoperative but more improvement between 1 and 5 years postoperative. Interpretation - Preoperative anxiety was found to influence pain at 1 year after TKR. However, none of the psychosocial variables were risk factors for a poor outcome at 5 years post-operative, suggesting that the negative effects of anxiety on outcome do not persist in the longer-term.

Background: Experience-based co-design (EBCD) is a methodology for service improvement and development, which puts service-user voices at the heart of improving health services., Aims: The aim of this paper was to implement the EBCD methodology in a mental health setting, and to investigate the challenges which arise during this process., Method: In order to achieve this, a modified version of the EBCD methodology was undertaken, which involved listening to the experiences of the people who work in and use the mental health setting and sharing these experiences with the people who could effect change within the service, through collaborative work between service-users, staff and managers., Results: EBCD was implemented within the mental health setting and was well received by service-users, staff and stakeholders. A number of modifications were necessary in this setting, for example high levels of support available to participants., Conclusions: It was concluded that EBCD is a suitable methodology for service improvement in mental health settings.