In the first part an update of a guideline for the physiotherapy treatment of patients with hip and knee OA is described. Then a set of quality indicators for the physiotherapy management is... Show moreIn the first part an update of a guideline for the physiotherapy treatment of patients with hip and knee OA is described. Then a set of quality indicators for the physiotherapy management is developed to be used as an instrument to measure guideline adherence. Subsequently the effect of educational strategies to enhance their uptake by physiotherapists in daily clinical practice is investigated. An interactive approach with patient colaboration and following a proces of clinical reasoning has shown to be the most effective strategy. The second part describes the extent of the provision of physiotherapy before and after joint replacement surgery from the physiotherapists__ and patients__ perspective. Results showed a large variation in provided interventions before and after surgery, although evidence for physiotherapy before joint replacement surgery is lacking. This indicates that more research is necessary focussing on effectiveness for specific groups of patients. In addition it was concluded that the presence of severe back pain in THA and dizziness in THA and TKA, should maybe ascertained before surgery and if present be treated if possible in order to decrease the chance of unfavourable outcome, although the predictive value of dizziness should be confirmed in a study with a prospective design. Show less
