Does a bespoke education session change levels of catastrophizing, kinesiophobia and pain beliefs in patients with patellofemoral pain? A feasibility study

OBJECTIVES: To assess the feasibility of a 30-minute education session for patients with patellofemoral pain on levels of catastrophizing and kinesiophobia. DESIGN: Randomised feasibility study SETTING: Three sites within a single NHS Organisation in England. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-one adult patients were screened for inclusion, resulting in twenty-four who had a clinical diagnosis of patellofemoral pain being randomised equally to either the intervention or control group. INTERVENTION: Participants were randomised to either control or intervention conditions; both received standardized physiotherapy while the intervention/experimental group received a 30-minute educational session addressing causes of pain, beliefs about noise that comes from the joint, the impact of the pain on activity, the influence of other family members’ experience and beliefs about knee pain. Intervention participants were also given an education leaflet: ‘Managing My Patellofemoral Pain’. MAIN OUTCOMES: recruitment, retention, intervention fidelity. Patient reported outcome measures (PROMs): Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score for patellofemoral pain and osteoarthritis (KOOS-PF), Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) and Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia (TSK). RESULTS: The study was successful in recruiting and retaining participants and was delivered as intended. In addition, sufficient clinical data were generated to calculate the required sample size for a future study of efficacy CONCLUSIONS: This study which featured a 30-minute education session targeting levels of catastrophizing and kinesiophobia is feasible and identified that the TSK may be the most appropriate PROMs for a future study of efficacy of this intervention. Allowing for a drop out of 20%as identified in similar studies, 86 participants (per arm) in a two-arm study would be required for a traditional randomised controlled trial design.