Why Doesn't My Doctor Just Send Me to Physio? What New Research Reveals About the Knee Osteoarthritis Treatment Gap
If you've ever been told you have knee osteoarthritis and left the appointment with little more than a leaflet and a suggestion to take paracetamol, you are far from alone. Knee osteoarthritis is one of the most searched joint conditions online, and most of that searching comes down to one frustration: patients want to know why they weren't offered physiotherapy, exercise guidance, or a clear treatment plan instead of just being told to rest and wait. A newly published qualitative study out of Denmark has finally asked the people on the other side of that conversation, the general practitioners themselves, why this gap exists. The Study Behind the Headlines The research, published in the Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care in early July, was led by Astrid Trulsson and colleagues from Danish universities. Rather than surveying patients, the team went straight to the source and conducted twelve in-depth interviews with GPs and GP trainees about how they actually manage k...