Exercise and manual physiotherapy arthritis research trial (EMPART) for osteoarthritis of the hip: a multicenter randomized controlled trial.

Objectives: To determine the effectiveness of exercise therapy (ET) compared with ET with adjunctive manual therapy (MT) for people with hip osteoarthritis (OA); and to identify if immediate commencement of treatment (ET or ET+MT) was more beneficial than a 9-week waiting period for either intervention.

Design: Assessor-blind randomized controlled trial with a 9-week and 18-week follow-up.

Setting: Four academic teaching hospitals in Dublin, Ireland.

High incidence of osteoporosis and fractures in an aging post-polio population.

Background/aims: Since the polio epidemic in Ireland in the 1950s, most polio survivors are approaching into the 6th and 7th decade of their lives. There is little data about bone density and risk of fractures in these patients. In 2006, we undertook an audit of post-polio patients attending rheumatology and neurology outpatient clinics in a university teaching hospital.