View clinical trials related to Osteoarthritis, Knee.
Filter by:People with rheumatic disorders (arthritis) often have trouble keeping their jobs. This study will look at whether vocational rehabilitation (VR) will improve the ability of employed people with arthritis to keep their jobs. Job retention VR services target key factors that increase the risk of job loss. They aim to modify jobs to reduce barriers caused by functional limitations and disease symptoms, future career planning, and establish a partnership with a VR counselor for ongoing help. We will conduct the study among patients with rheumatic disorders recruited in eastern Massachusetts. We will give 120 study participants job retention services provided by VR counselors. We will give another 120 participants literature about employment- related resources. We will compare the outcomes of the two groups to evaluate the usefulness of job retention services in preventing job loss in people with rheumatic disorders.
To understand the effects of leg strengthening exercise, we will study the effects of strength training of the legs in four groups of people: (1) osteoarthritis (OA) with knee pain; (2) OA without knee pain; (3) no OA but elderly with knee pain; and (4) normal elderly with no OA or knee pain. In each of the first three groups, we will look at whether people who do strength training have less pain and/or slower progression of x-ray signs of OA over 30 months than people who perform nonstrengthening, range-of-motion exercises. We are including the fourth group to find out whether people with OA (groups 1 & 2) have the same response to strength training as healthy elderly people, and whether those with knee pain (groups 1 & 3) have the same response to training as those without joint pain.