Method for studying knee pain and related health issues in the community.
What is it about?
This paper provides the method currently being used to examine knee pain within a Britsh community. It examines how often knee pain occurs, how the disease osteoarthritis progresses and to identify possible factors which contribute to the risk of developing the condition.
Why is it important?
This study is important as it will help us understand how knee pain develops. By following people who are unaffected as well as affected by knee pain at the start of the study we are able to gain insight into the frequency of knee pain occurring within a UK population, how the condition progresses, different characteristics of knee pain, along with different diseases associated with it, such as osteoarthritis. People with established long-term knee pain have been previously well studied but this study will allow us to follow the development of new early knee pain.