- Posted By: Sallie Lamb
We are delighted to see the publication of our recently completed study in The Lancet today. The Strengthening And Stretching for Rheumatoid Arthritis of the Hand (SARAH) trial evaluated the clinical and cost-effectiveness of adding an individually tailored, progressive exercise programme for the hands and upper limbs in addition to usual care. It was funded by the National Institute of Health Research Health Technology Assessment Programme and took approximately 4 years to complete.
RA affects more than 400,000 people in the UK, of whom about 80% have hand and wrist problems, and this has a substantial impact on quality of life, function and productivity. Medication is the first line of treatment but current guidelines also recommend regular exercises, however, there was little published evidence to guide clinical practice. The exercise programme developed for the study is a worthwhile, low cost intervention to adopt alongside medication. We demonstrated that the exercise programme improved the hand function of participants compared to usual care. Patients with RA are often concerned that exercise will cause “flare ups” but the SARAH exercise programme was safe and did not cause increased pain.
As part of the study, the team developed a manual that describes the treatment programme developed for the SARAH trial. The manual is designed to guide hand therapists through the SARAH exercise programme with detailed descriptions of the different elements. These materials are available from the OCTRU website: http://www.octru.ox.ac.uk/interventions/SARAHtrial/sarah-trial-materials
For more information see the news item on the OCTRU website: http://www.octru.ox.ac.uk/news/hand-exercises-improve-function-in-rheuma...