ESCAPE-pain: supporting people with chronic joint pain during Covid-19

The ESCAPE-pain programme is usually delivered as a face-to-face class to groups of about 10 people in Physiotherapy Outpatient Departments, leisure or community sites in over 290 venues across the UK. However, the Covid-19 epidemic has meant these venues have been forced to suspend face-to-face classes.

This has encouraged the team to find innovative new ways of supporting people with knee and hip pain who are now confined to their homes. Which includes, a new public ESCAPE-pain Facebook page has been launched where participants can visit to share stories, ask for guidance, and seek and provide peer support.

In addition the ESCAPE-pain smartphone app and online is now free-to-use and the hope is that is through the programme people can remain active and manage their joint pain during this time through the following resources:

1. ESCAPE-pain Online can be viewed on a range of mobile devices but is best viewed on a computer;
2. The ESCAPE-pain app is available on Android devices from the Google play store.

Note – Both tools require users to register and then follow a six-week programme, with two sessions each week, using exercise and educational videos and measuring the user’s ability at the start and end so they can see their progress.

To support home exercise further, the exercise and educational videos from the app are now also freely available on the ESCAPE-pain website so that people don’t need to create an account to view them, or for people who don’t wish to follow a structured programme and just want a reminder of how to do an exercise.

3. The exercise videos are designed so that the exercises can be done in a home setting using everyday household items like chairs or steps. They are simple and easy to follow with audio instructions. Just click on each video to get started. You don’t have to do them all, choose a few you find easy, then add or drop exercises as you want. If you want to view the exercise in full screen mode, click on the bottom right hand corner of each video where you can see a small square. Why not also look at our top tips (on the same page) of how to exercise safely in your home?
4. The educational videos can be viewed at any time to learn more about your joint pain. They give simple advice and information to help people learn about how to better manage their condition. Just click on each video to get started. If you want to view the video in full screen mode, click on the bottom right hand corner of each video where you can see a small square.
5. It is recommended that people read through the ESCAPE-pain support tools guidance which contains top tips for getting the best out of the digital tools. In addition, some ESCAPE-pain sites have started delivering virtual ESCAPE-pain classes. So, if you’re one of those people who would benefit from the interaction and would find it more motivating then follow the @escape_pain Twitter account to find out where and when these are happening.

For more information, and support contact hello@escape-pain.org.

Reduced pain and improvement in physical function are only some of the positive results of the programme. Watch the latest participant video below.