Feasibility of the SOAR (Stop OsteoARthritis) program

OBJECTIVE: Assess the feasibility of a virtually-delivered, physiotherapist-guided knee health program (SOAR) that targets self-management of knee health and osteoarthritis risk after an activity-related knee injury. DESIGN: In this quasi-experimental feasibility study, individuals with varied lived experience of knee trauma completed a 4-week SOAR program. This included: 1) Knee Camp (group education, 1:1 exercise and activity goal-setting); 2) weekly home-based exercise and activity program with tracking, and; 3) weekly 1:1 physiotherapy-guided action-planning. SOAR program feasibility was assessed with implementation (attrition, adherence, intervention fidelity), practicality (adverse events, goal completion), acceptability and efficacy (change in Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score subscales, Patient Specific Functional Scale (PSFS), Godin Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire (GLTEQ), Partner in Health Scale (PHS)) outcomes. Descriptive statistics, disaggregated by gender, were calculated. RESULTS: Thirty participants (60% women, median (min-max) age 30 years (19–50), time from injury 5.6 years (1.2–25.2)) were enrolled. No participant attrition or adverse events were reported, and 90% of mandatory program components were completed. Participants rated their adherence at 80%, and 96% of exercise-therapy and 95% of activity goals were fully or partially achieved. Both women and men reported significant group mean (95%CI) improvements in GLTEQ scores (women: 22 METS (6,37), men: 31 METS (8,54)), while women alone reported improvements in PHS (−7 (−11,-3) and PSFS (1.7 (0.6,2.8) scores. CONCLUSION: The SOAR program is feasible for persons at various timepoints post-knee trauma, and gender may be an important consideration for SOAR implementation and assessment. A randomized controlled trial to assess intervention efficacy is warranted.