About Us

Why JointPain.ie

This idea behind this website stemmed from two physiotherapy researchers at the University of Limerick, Dr Clodagh Toomey and Dr Helen O’Leary, who were conducting research on healthcare services for hip and knee osteoarthritis and degenerative meniscal tears respectively. Countless conversations with clinicians and patients revealed a lack of available trustworthy evidence-based resources to provide people with knowledge on their painful joint conditions, and treatment options in Ireland.

A Health Research Board Knowledge Translation Award allowed the researchers to initiate a plan to fill this gap. The project, titled “Co-design and co-adaptation of a trustworthy online resource for healthcare professionals and people with chronic hip and knee pain in Ireland [KTA-2022-023]”, had the following collaborators:

Co-Primary Investigators: Dr Clodagh Toomey and Dr Helen O’Leary. Collaborators: Prof Liam Glynn (University of Limerick), Prof Karen McCreesh (University of Limerick), Stacey Grealis (Patient Partner), Grainne O’Leary (Arthritis Ireland), Ruth Kiely (HSE National Clinical Programme for Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery), Dr Christian Barton (La Trobe University and TREK Australia).

The aim of this project was to create a free trustworthy website for people with hip and knee pain in Ireland, with information that is backed by research, and designed with patients and healthcare professionals (HCPs) to make sure the information meets needs and is understandable.

The first objective of this project was to identify the need and then co-design and co-adapt an online resource for chronic hip and knee pain with end-user patients, healthcare professionals and expert stakeholder groups in Ireland. An existing evidence-based Australian website (TREK “My Knee” education and self-management toolkit) was used for this purpose.

This was done through hosting a number of Patient and Public involvement (PPI) and knowledge user workshops around Ireland, representing people with pain and carers, general practitioners, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and pharmacists. Additional feedback was sought from orthopaedic consultants and nurses.

A ‘co-design’ approach was used. This means we consulted with end users about their wants and needs from an online resource at the outset, sought input on an early prototype and also incorporated their feedback on final versions of the website. Funding from the Health Research Board Knowledge Translation Award and a PPI Ignite Network @UL Bursary has been instrumental in facilitating meaningful involvement of patients and health care professional in this work through in-person workshops.

Listen to joint pain patient contributor Matthew describe his experience of co-designing this website:

Through working with PPI representatives and healthcare professionals, we learnt:

• The large volume of information on the internet can be overwhelming and finding trustworthy information is challenging. For this reason, people are slow to engage with online resources to learn more about their joint pain or osteoarthritis.
• Interpretating medical jargon on other websites poses a challenge to gaining knowledge and there is a need for simple concise information.
• A website with written information but also visual and video resources would be helpful way to support people manage their symptoms and understand their treatment options.

Multiple rounds of iterations and additional reviews were sought with stakeholders. Organisations such as Arthritis Ireland, the Irish Coalition for People with Obesity and representatives from the HSE Hip and Knee Pathway and National Clinical Programme for Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery also contributed to the development of this resource.

Information was gathered on the educational needs of people with joint conditions and preferences on how stakeholders wanted the information to be presented. This allowed the co-creation of a resource that would fulfil the needs of people with joint pain in Ireland.

Members of Knee Health PPI (Kerry) group at a co-design workshop with researchers Helen O’Leary and Sara Hauber.

List of Contributors

People with joint conditions and carers: Stacey Grealis, Patrick Cleary, Tom O’Mahoney, Aideen Fitzgibbon, Elaine Riordan, Michelle McEvoy, Matthew Hopper, Debbie Steele, Marion Moroney, Stephen Barker, Tom Barrett, Heather Robb, Agnes Martin, Patricia-Anne Moxon-Browne, Mary O’Sullivan, Eugene Hayes.

Clinicians/Researchers: Prof Helen French, Dr Peter Hayes, Mr Finbarr Condon, Dr Ciaran Purcell, Dr Sean McKenna, Prof Audrey Tierney, Dr Mairead Conneely, Sharon O’Connor, Courtney Feike, Selina Sutherland, Pauline Lennon, Dr Conor Mitchell, John O’Hora, Dr Declan Breslin, Yvonne Codd, Tadhg O’Leary, Karen Quinn, Ciara Cullen, Martina Cooney, Doreen Moore, Dr Rob Gee, Dr Tom English, Dr Andrew Murphy.

Research Assistant: Sara Hauber (postgraduate researcher in chronic pain) applied her skills in knowledge translation and design to contribute to video production and to ensure the overall project vision was realised.

Students and Postdoctoral Fellows: Caoimhe Barry-Walsh, Avantika Bhardwaj, Megan Curren and Peter Hempenstall assisted in dissemination activities and designing infographics and downloadable resources for the site.

Web Designer: Nicola Madigan (Arra Web Design) patiently and expertly dealt with this time-consuming co-design process to ensure that this website met the needs and demands of its users.