Physio Clodagh Toomey co-leads project that will offer 'trustworthy' guidance on hip and knee pain

Physiotherapist Clodagh Toomey is developing a free online resource on chronic hip and knee pain for healthcare professionals and members of the public in Ireland.

Dr Clodagh Toomey – a research fellow at the University of Limerick’s (UL) School of Allied Health, Faculty of Education and Health Sciences – hopes the resource will be launched next year. The project is co-led by Dr Helen O’Leary, a clinical specialist physiotherapist at University Hospital Kerry and a post-doctoral research fellow at the School of Allied Health, University of Limerick.

Funding for the project came from the Health Research Board (HRB) last November. An ‘HRB emerging investigator’, Dr Toomey received further funding under the Knowledge Translation Awards 2022 scheme which allows grant holders to apply for additional funds for communication and dissemination activities.

‘We are currently in the process of engaging the patients, healthcare professionals, experts and web developers that will co-design the content,’ she told PhysioUpdate. 

‘We are in early stages and will be looking at a January-February 2024 launch for the website.’

Drawing on lessons from Australia

Dr Toomey’s project is titled ‘Co-design and co-adaptation of a trustworthy online resource for healthcare professionals and people with chronic hip and knee pain in Ireland’.

Long-term, painful conditions of the hip and knee joint are common in Ireland. Yet, many patients sit on waiting lists for months or years, even when specialist opinions are not needed [Clodagh Toomey]

Dr Toomey told the UL website: ‘Long-term, painful conditions of the hip and knee joint are common in Ireland. Yet, many patients sit on waiting lists for months or years, even when specialist opinions are not needed. In the meantime, pain gets worse, affecting ability to live, work and be fully active.

‘Expert knowledge on how to exercise with these conditions and how to take control of pain and other symptoms can be life-changing for these individuals and is part of recommended care. Although internet searches mean we now have pages of health information at our fingertips, we are also living in an era of misinformation and “fake news”, making it difficult to find quality information.’

Dr Toomey is adapting an Australian resource – the ‘TREK My Knee education and self-management toolkit’ – for people in Ireland, which will be promoted by physios and other healthcare practitioners, patient groups, newspapers, and social media.

Waiting list pressures will fall

Patients will be able to select the information they want by choosing options and features relating to their joint condition and knee osteoarthritis, for example, and will then be able download information on diet, exercise, self-management, medications and surgery. This will create a personalised printable toolkit containing the information that is for important to them, Dr Toomey explained. 

‘GPs or other healthcare practitioners will go through the information with the patient in their clinic, print the toolkit for the patient to take home and be confident that the patient is getting access to the quality education and guidance they need.

‘As a bonus, needless referrals to specialists and waiting lists may be reduced, and patients get better access to the care they need at the right time,’ Dr Toomey added.

Dr Toomey gained her physiotherapy degree and PhD at UL and received a postdoctoral fellowship in Canada at the University of Calgary’s Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre. 

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