Joint distraction for knee osteoarthritis: protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease that is highly prevalent worldwide. Knee osteoarthritis is the most common form of osteoarthritis and is a major cause of pain and disability. However, there remains a lack of treatments available that have demonstrated effectiveness in stopping or reversing the degenerative process. Joint distraction has emerged as a viable alternative in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis to delay the need for knee arthroplasty. Methods: An electronic search will be conducted on MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, CINAHL, Cochrane and EBSCO databases. Clinical studies investigating joint distraction for knee osteoarthritis, which reported clinical or structural outcomes including ∆WOMAC index, ∆VAS pain score and ∆joint space width will be included. Risk of bias will be assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale for observational studies and Cochrane Collaboration tool for randomised controlled trials. Quality of studies will be assessed using the modified Coleman methodology score. Discussion: This systematic review will summarise the short- and long-term clinical and structural outcomes following joint distraction for knee osteoarthritis. The findings from this review will establish the quality of currently available evidence, which will determine the need for further studies to establish the true effect size of this procedure.