Aims

Pain is the most frequent complaint associated with osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH), but the factors contributing to such pain are poorly understood. This study explored diverse demographic, clinical, radiological, psychological, and neurophysiological factors for their potential contribution to pain in patients with ONFH.

Aim. Musculoskeletal infection is a serious complication, however literature is lacking prospective data on its impact on mental health. The study aimed to assess mental health in patients with musculoskeletal infections and how they experience the possible mental and physical impairment. Method. All patients treated in our unit for musculoskeletal infections between July 2020 and March 2022 were prospectively included. To assess specific patient reported outcomes the following questionnaires were used: World-Health-Organization Quality-Of-Life (WHOQOL)-BREF and the Veterans-RAND-12Item Health Survey (VR-12) for mental & physical health; Patient-Health-Questionnaire (PHQ-8) for depression symptoms; Generalized-Anxiety-Disorder-Scale-7 (GAD-7) for anxiety symptoms and Somatic-Symptom-Disorder-B Criteria Scale (SSD-12) for experience of mental & physical impairment. The surveys were conducted at baseline, 6 and 12-weeks and 1-year. Results. In total 199 patients were included (31 fracture-related infections, 80 prosthetic joint infections, 40 diabetic foot syndromes and 48 other musculoskeletal infections). Physical health was significantly worse 6 weeks after treatment compared to baseline (WHOQOL p=.002; VR-12 p<.001), but significantly better at 3-months (p<.001; p=.006) and 12-months (p=.003; p<.001). Mental health was significantly worse at 3-months (WHOQOL p=.002), but at final follow-up significantly better (VR-12 p=.046). Social relationships (domain of WHOQOL) were perceived significantly worse 6 weeks and 12 months after treatment initiation (p=.003; p=.007), as were environmental factors. At baseline moderate to severe depression symptoms (PHQ-8≥10) and moderate to severe anxiety symptoms (GAD-7≥10) were observed in 14.6%, respectively 10.6% of all patients. At 12-months these were 7.4% and 3%. Over the course of treatment, only patients with DFS showed a significant change in experienced psychological or physical impairment, which was perceived significantly less compared 6 weeks to 12 months (p=.042). Conclusions. Patients with musculoskeletal infections suffer from a considerable impact on their mental health. The greatest impairment in physical health was seen 6 weeks after beginning of treatment. The psychological well-being was worse at 3-months. Environmental factors, such as mobility, activities of daily living and dependence on medication or medical treatment were worst at 3-months. Also increasingly worse social relationships over the course of treatment was observed. Further studies are needed to identify psychological impairment and related factors, as well as to determine how patients cope with their disease and treatment. This could serve as a foundation to implement treatment algorithms in order to improve patient related outcome and quality of life

Purpose of the Study. To assess the test-retest reliability, construct validity and determine the cut-off scoret of BACKonLINE™ for people with LBP. Background. Appropriate treatment for Low back pain (LBP) is vital, however patients can wait for 14–24 weeks on NHS Physiotherapy lists. Many factors contribute to LBP and initially can be due to peripheral tissue damage. However, persistent LBP is associated with amplification in pain processing in the central nervous system (central sensitisation-CS). CS often results in poorer outcomes and often requires longer management making timely assessment and appropriate management crucial. An online self-assessment and self-management tool (BACKonLINE™) for discerning between characteristics of predominantly centrally (CD) or peripherally (PD) driven LBP was developed using a Delphi study. Method. Same subject, test-retest reliability and construct validity study (two sessions). Sample of 35 volunteers with LBP. In session 1, participants completed BACKonLINE™ and validated questionnaires (Oswestry Disability Index, StartBack, Tampa scale for Kinesiophobia, Pain Anxiety Symptom Scale Short Form 20). Participants repeated the process one week later. BACKonLINE's Cut-off score was determined by plotting results against StartBack using ROC curve analysis. Results. BACKonLINE™ showed excellent test-retest reliability (ICC= 0.913; 95%CI=0.832–0.956). When assessing construct validity, the aforementioned questionnaires demonstrated moderate correlation with BACKonLINE™ (Pearson's r range= 0.42–0.67, p-value<0.005). ROC analysis determined that scores higher than 42 in BACKonLINE™ indicate CD LBP while scores ≤42 indicate PD LBP. Conclusion. The study shows that BACKonLINE™ has excellent test-retest reliability, and good construct validity within a LBP population. However, further studies with larger sample sizes should be conducted before the implementation of BACKonLINE™. Conflicts of interest: No conflicts of interest. Sources of funding: Civil Service Commission, Kuwait

Purpose and background. There is lacking evidence about the prognostic role of anxiety as prognostic in acute low back pain patients. The objective of this study was to determine whether patients with acute low back pain (ALBP) are at risk to develop chronic low back pain (CLBP) and pain-related disability after 12 weeks due to high anxiety levels. Methods and results. An observational multi-centre study was conducted in primary physiotherapy care with measurements at baseline and at 12 weeks including known prognostic factors and psychological candidate predictors for CLBP. Two hundred and four participants completed both assessments of which 51 and 54 were classified as having less than 50% decrease in pain and pain-related disability, respectively. For pain, the final model contained higher pain intensity, longer pain duration, depression symptoms, and state anxiety with explained variance 0.30, sensitivity 0.74, specificity 0.82, Likelihood Ratio 4.1 (95% CI 2.0 to 6.1) and Area Under the Curve 0.78 (95% CI 0.70 to 0.85). For pain-related disability, trait anxiety, depression symptoms, and state anxiety contributed independently to the prediction with the model's explained variance of 0.19, sensitivity 0.78, specificity 0.78, Likelihood Ratio 3.0 (95% CI 2.0 to 4.5), and Area Under the Curve 0.73 (95% CI 0.65 to 0.81). Conclusion. State anxiety in patients with ALBP is an independent predictor of CLBP at 12 weeks after baseline in primary physiotherapy care and should be measured, in addition to known prognostic factors and depression symptoms, in order to intervene and potentially decrease duration of complaints. No conflict of interest. No funding obtained

Aims

COVID-19 has compounded a growing waiting list problem, with over 4.5 million patients now waiting for planned elective care in the UK. Views of patients on waiting lists are rarely considered in prioritization. Our primary aim was to understand how to support patients on waiting lists by hearing their experiences, concerns, and expectations. The secondary aim was to capture objective change in disability and coping mechanisms.

Aims

Healthcare systems have been rapidly restructured to meet COVID-19 demand. Clinicians are working to novel clinical guidelines, treating new patient cohorts and working in unfamiliar environments. Trauma and orthopaedics (T&O) has experienced cancellation of routine clinics and operating, with redistribution of the workload and human resources. To date, no studies have evaluated the mental health impact of these changes on the T&O workforce. We report the results of a novel survey on the impact of the pandemic on the mental health of our orthopaedic workforce and the contributory factors.