Grant: Project Grant

People who live in rural areas and have hip or knee arthritis can have difficulty receiving physical therapy close to home. Living with hip or knee arthritis can make doing your daily activities and being physically active difficult. This can lead to other health conditions, such as becoming overweight, or lessen enjoyment of life. We will compare 2 programs that allow physical therapists to treat rural residents in their own home to each other and to usual care. Usual care is the care that is typically provided to people living with hip or knee arthritis. Over 12-weeks, therapists will meet virtually with patients using Zoom so that patients and therapists can see each other. The program will be either a class or one-on-one with a therapist. In the class, participants will still receive private one-to-one time with the therapist using a Zoom 'breakout' room. Therapists in both groups will help patients do exercises correctly in their home. Patients can also see and talk to the therapists to discuss their challenges in living with OA and set personalized goals including pain management, participating in valued daily activities, keeping healthy (diet, sleep) and being active. Both programs will allow patients who sometimes cannot access physical therapy to receive care in their home.