Treatment plan
Where- Primary care office. A quiet welcoming setting, providing a space for the patient to voice their concerns.
Family- Consider having wife present to discuss Treatment plan and provide support for the patient.
Other healthcare professionals- Physical therapy is a great adjunct therapy to help with mobility, gait and balance issues associated with osteoarthritis (Wang et al., 2022). This provides the patient with a convenient, non-pharmacological treatment to help manage symptoms.
Assessment tools- The Western Ontario and McMaster University Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) is one of the most common assessment tools for osteoarthritis of the knee. This assessment tool consists of 24 questions that help to quantify stiffness, pain and function of the affected joint giving a numerical value on joint health (Thirumaran, 2023). This tool is a questionnaire that is given to the patient to complete themselves. To ensure the best results from the testing we need to verify that the patient can read and comprehend the questions appropriately. Any assistive devices such as glasses or contact lenses should be available to the patient. Additional assessment tools that we would want to use would be a fall assessment and a functional assessment. These assessment tools will ensure that the patient is safe and is able to complete activities of daily living. A Time Up and Go (TUG) test can be used as a quick in office assessment to check mobility and fall risk (Herman et al., 2011).
Immunizations- The patient has requested his annual flu vaccination which is appropriate given the season. Being 78 years old we must verify that the patient is up to date on all of his required vaccinations. Age-appropriate vaccines for our patient include RSV, Shingles, Pneumococcal and Tdap, if not received in the past 10 years (Centers for Disease Control, 2025). If the patient has not received, education will be provided to the patient so that he can make an educated decision on which vaccinations he would like he receive today.
Plan- Based on assessment tools results, our highest priority is making sure the patient is safe. Limited ROM and pain can greatly increase the risk of falling in the elderly population. I would also want to assess the patient’s openness to physical therapy. A more in depth understanding of the patient’s pain is crucial. This would include of often the patient is taking OTC Tylenol and Voltaren gel, and if they help with the pain.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2025). Adult immunization schedule.
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/imz-schedules/downloads/adults-schedule-easy-read.pdfLinks to an external site.
Herman, T., Giladi, N., & Hausdorff, J. M. (2011). Properties of the \’timed up and go\’ test: more
than meets the eye. Gerontology, 57(3), 203–210. https://doi.org/10.1159/000314963Links to an external site.
Thirumaran, A. J., Deveza, L. A., Atukorala, I., & Hunter, D. J. (2023). Assessment of Pain in
Osteoarthritis of the Knee. Journal of personalized medicine, 13(7), 1139.
https://doi.org/10.3390/jpm13071139 Links to an external site.
Wang, W., Niu, Y., & Jia, Q. (2022). Physical therapy as a promising treatment for osteoarthritis:
A narrative review. Frontiers in physiology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2022.1011407Links to an external site.
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