Is being barefoot, wearing shoes and physical activity associated with knee osteoarthritis pain flares? Data from a usually barefoot Sri Lankan cohort.

Aim: To identify the association between hours of being barefoot/wearing footwear, physical activity (PA) and knee osteoarthritis pain flares (KOAF).

Methods: Persons with a diagnosis of knee osteoarthritis, who reported previous KOAF, were followed up in a 3 months long telephone-based case-crossover study. Exposures to risk factors were assessed every 10 days and whenever the participants experienced a KOAF.