Guideline for the management of knee and hip osteoarthritis

About this guideline

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) first developed Guidelines for the non-surgical management of hip and knee osteoarthritis in 2009. Since then, there has been substantial progress in evaluating the effectiveness and safety of commonly used and new therapies for osteoarthritis (OA). The objective of this new guideline is to present the best available, current scientific evidence for OA interventions, covering all interventions other than joint replacement for the hip and knee.

Target population and audience

This guideline applies to all adults diagnosed with symptomatic OA of the hip and/or knee up until referral for joint replacement. While this guideline is intended primarily for use in the primary care setting by general practitioners (GPs), consideration of the relevance of this guideline was also given to other health professionals who treat people with OA. This is reflected in the multidisciplinary composition of the guideline development working group, including consumer representatives.