This practice is a = research practice, and works in partnership with the internationally renowned Arthri= tis Research Campaign National Primary Care Centre at Keele University (http://www.keele.ac.uk/research/pchs/pcmrc/). The practice helps researchers at Keele to develop their ideas to ensure that the research addresses questions that are important to the Health Service, and meet the needs of patients who suffer from painful conditions of their joints, bones= and muscles.
Painful musculoskeletal condition=
s have
a major impact on health in the UK population. They are the commonest cause=
of
disability, a major reason for work loss, the single most costly area of
personal expenditure on health, and the most frequent chronic illness for w=
hich
people seek help from primary health care professionals
The patients, Docto= rs and Nurses in this practice have helped researchers at Keele to carry out the following projects, which have been published in the most important journal publications in the field for this type of research:
Joint Pain
The epidemiology=
and
management of osteoarthritis in primary care
Grant funder and
amount: Medical Research
Council. £1,233,943
Chief Investigat=
or: Peter Croft
Thousands of patien= ts registered with Doctors in North Staffordshire have helped out with this project through answering a series of postal questionnaires on their changi= ng experiences of health over the past six years. This research has shown that joint= pain is far more common than previously thought, and has a big impact on people’s lives, causing a significant amount of disability in later life. We are now working clos= ely with Doctors to find ways the best ways for patients to manage their joint pain, to prevent long term pain and disability.
Thomas E, Peat G=
, Harris
L, Wilkie R, Croft PR (2004). The
prevalence of pain and pain interference in a general population of older
adults: Cross-sectional findings from the North Staffordshire Osteoarthriti=
s Project
(NorStOP). Pain, 110, pp. 361=
-368
A pragmatic rand=
omized
controlled trial in primary care to determine the effectiveness of active
physiotherapy treatment and enhanced pharmacy review for knee pain in older
people
Grant funder and
amount: Arthritis Research
Campaign. £103,782
Chief Investigat=
or: Julius Sim
Keele Research Cent= re has undertaken a number of trials of different ways of caring for people with k= nee pain and osteoarthritis. This= trial of primary care manage= ment of knee pain by pharmacists and by physiotherapists, showed significant short = term benefits for patients, including reduction in pain for those who underwent = the physiotherapy treatment, and reduction in consumption of potentially harmful non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for those who underwent enhanc= ed pharmacy review
Hay EM, Foster NE, Thomas E, Peat G, Phelan M, Yates =
HE, Blenkinsopp A, Sim J (2006). Effectiveness of community physiotherapy a=
nd enhanced pharmacy review for knee pain in people aged over 55 presenting=
to primary care: pragmatic randomised trial. British Medical Journal, 333, pp. 995-998.
Back Pain
Improving the
effectiveness of primary care for non-specific back pain
Grant funder and=
amount:
Arthritis Research Campaign. £384,278
Chief Investigat= or: Nadine Foster
A
significant amount of money is spent on back pain research, yet so far, no
single method of caring for patients with back pain has been found which sh=
ows
a positive long-term benefit for the majority of patients. Our approach is different – =
where
we set out to find out what people believe about their pain, and how such
beliefs affect the treatment they receive, and the effect of that
treatment. This programme of =
work
is helping us to develop new ways of screening patients, and targeting them
towards the types of treatment for back pain that would suit them the best.=
Early management= of back pain in primary care: a comparison of physical treatments versus a back pain management programme
Grant funder and=
amount:
National Lottery Charities Board. £191,227
Chief Investigat=
or: Peter Croft
In this study, we s= howed that it was possible for physiotherapists to treat back pain using methods which also addressed the emotional factors which people experience with pai= n, and that this approach enabled patients to manage their pain, leading to fe= wer visits to the GP or hospital.
Outcomes from the r= esearch undertaken in this practice has also contributed to the development of new Government Policies, such as the Musculoskeletal Framework published= by the Department of Health
(http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/Pub=
licationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_4138413).
The research partnership between Keele and this practice has also contribut=
ed
to development of government guidelines for health care workers on how best=
to
treat patients who suffer from joint pain - (http://www.nice.nhs.uk/guidance/index.jsp?action=3Ddownload&o=
=3D39557).
The
link for our centre website is below
http://www.keele.ac.uk=
/research/pchs/pcmrc/
the
look of our centre website is
![](3D"keeleresearch_files/image002.jpg")
We
encourage the practice to offer patients our centre research leaflet. The
leaflet highlights items patients may want to consider if they become invol=
ved
in our centre research.
The
leaflet can also be found & downloaded from our website (under the opti=
on
‘involving the public’) or is available in leaflet format from =
us
at the centre or we can email the leaflet in PDF file format.
![](3D"keeleresearch_files/image004.jpg")