C-GLOVES: the Effectiveness of Compression Gloves in Arthritis

This is a collaborative study with 11 Occupational Therapy (OT) departments in North-West England. The OTs provide compression gloves to 25% of out-patients with inflammatory, rheumatoid and osteoarthritis. The glove pressure aims to relieve hand pain, swelling and stiffness. People find they help but there is little research testing this. Of the five small studies published: two found little or no benefit; one found similar effects from compression and ordinary thermal gloves; two found some benefits. Testing if gloves work helps therapists and patients judge if they will help. This is a feasibility study to help us plan a future trial testing if compression gloves work for people with arthritis. We aim to find out: the rate we can recruit people to the study; if OTs can assess people's hands and provide gloves as agreed; how many people do we need to take part in a trial; what do people think (if any) is the gloves' most important effect and how long should we test them for? We will analyse the data to see what effect the gloves have. The study will last 12 months. People will get compression gloves as part of their usual care. The OTs have agreed a standard way of assessing and providing the gloves to ensure best practice across departments. The assessments include: difficulties using hands, pain and stiffness levels, and measuring hand and finger joint size and movement. People can take part if they: have one of the three types of arthritis; are willing to wear Isotoner three-quarter length gloves; can attend the usual 4 week review appointment for re-assessment; will allow us to use their anonymized hand assessments. We will also interview some people about their views of the assessment and their treatment. Each patient will be involved for 4-8 weeks.