A single, multidisciplinary session of an individual intervention combining detailed information on functioning, activities of daily living, physical activity, nutrition, assistive devices, instructions on pain management and exercises significantly improved grip strength in patients with hand osteoarthritis, according to data published in Arthritis Research & Therapy.

“As hand OA patients have individual and subjective treatment requirements, combined interventions that take different treatment options into account may be superior to interventions that focus on just one particular component, eg, exercises only or orthoses only,” Michaela A. Stoffer-Marx, PhD, MSc, of the Medical University of Vienna, and colleagues wrote. “However, there is a lack of evidence on these approaches, especially those feasible in primary care. Thus, high-quality studies on the effect of a brief interdisciplinary, individualized, intervention that is community-applicable in both primary and specialist care are warranted.”