Digitally delivered education and exercises for patients with hand osteoarthritis—An observational study

Abstract

Hand osteoarthritis (OA) is a common form of OA, for which education and exercise are considered the first‐line treatment. The aim of the present study was to examine pain and perceived hand function in participants following 3 months of digitally delivered first‐line treatment for hand OA. Three‐hundred‐and‐seventy‐nine of 846 participants with clinical signs and symptoms of hand OA completed the study. The digital hand OA treatment program consists of video instructed daily exercises and patient education through text lessons. Pain (NRS, 0 no pain, 10 worst) was the primary outcome, and stiffness (NRS) and the Functional Index for Hand OsteoArthritis (FIHOA, 0 best, 30 worst) were among secondary outcomes. The McNemar test and linear mixed effect regression model were used to assess the changes in outcomes from baseline to 3‐month. After three months, the digitally delivered program was associated with a significant decrease in pain intensity (mean change −1.30 (95% CI −1.49, −1.12)) and hand stiffness (mean change ‐0.81 (95% CI −1.02, −0.60)) but no conclusive changes in the FIHOA scores (mean change 0.3 (95% CI −0.2, 0.7)). The results agree with reports on face‐to‐face delivered first‐line treatment for hand OA suggesting that digital treatment is a viable treatment option in patients with hand OA.