Broken Machines or Active Bodies? Part 2. How People Talk About Osteoarthritis and Why Clinicians Need to Change the Conversation.

ABSTRACT

SYNOPSIS How people talk about osteoarthritis may impact outcomes, including uptake of guideline recommendations related to activity-based lifestyles and interventions. In this editorial, we describe 2 key ways of talking, based on findings from our systematic review of 62 qualitative studies exploring the perceptions of people with knee osteoarthritis (n = 1208), their carers (n = 28), and clinicians (n = 2403). Among raw quotes extracted from the studies, we observed a dominant impairment-based way of talking and a participatory based way of talking. These ways of talking form a novel framework to help clinicians understand what people think and do about osteoarthritis. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2023;53(6)325-330. doi10.2519/jospt.2023.11880.