Combining goal setting and achievement with occupational therapy to improve pain, psychological factors and physical activity in patients after high tibial osteotomy: A non-randomized controlled study

BACKGROUND: Psychological factors contribute to chronic pain and may lead to physical inactivity and poor functional outcomes. PURPOSE: We conducted a non-randomized controlled study to evaluate the effectiveness of goal setting and achievement following occupational therapy (OT) intervention to improve pain, psychological factors, and physical activity among patients after high tibial osteotomy (HTO). METHOD: We analyzed the data of 31 patients who underwent HTO, allocated into OT intervention and control groups. Goal achievement was encouraged through OT in the intervention groups; the control groups did not receive OT intervention. Outcome measures included the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) score (before and after the OT intervention), walking pain, pain catastrophizing, anxiety, depression, pain self-efficacy, and physical activity level. RESULTS: OT significantly improved the COPM score, depression, and physical activity. At the final assessment, the depression score was lower while the step count and physical activity time were significantly higher in the intervention group than in the control group (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Embedding goal setting and achievement as part of an OT intervention improved the outcomes after HTO.