Better Knee, Better Me program wins clinical trials award

The Better Knee, Better Me trial conducted by the University of Melbourne Department of Physiotherapy in partnership with Medibank and Austin Health has won the inaugural Australian Clinical Trials Alliance (ACTA) industry partnership award.

More than 400 individuals with knee osteoarthritis participated in the trial to investigate the benefits of telehealth-delivered exercise and diet programs.

During the trial, researchers evaluated two six-month telehealth-delivered exercise programs, one with and one without a weight-loss dietary program, against an information-only control group.

Participants in the intervention groups received support from physiotherapists and dietitians via Zoom, as well as a suite of other resources. Those in the exercise plus diet group also received meal replacements so they could undertake a ketogenic low energy diet.

Both intervention programs resulted in benefits for pain, function and quality of life compared to the information-only control group, and participants were also less willing to undergo knee joint replacement surgery.

The combined exercise and diet program also led to additional benefits including greater reduction in pain, greater improvements in physical function, lower use of pain medications and significant weight loss compared to the exercise-only program.

Up to 80 per cent of participants experienced improvement in knee pain and an average of 10 per cent in loss of body weight, with one participant shedding 39 kilograms.

The Australian Clinical Trials Alliance (ACTA) is the national peak body for clinical trial networks, coordinating centres and quality registries conducting investigator-initiated clinical trials.