Traumatic and Non-traumatic Knee Complaints in General Practice

General practitioners (GPs) are frequently consulted by patients with various types of knee complaints. The incidence of these knee complaints presented in Dutch general practice is about 13.7 per 1000 registered patients per year with a prevalence of 19.0 per 1000 patients per year. About 80% of these knee complaints are of non-­‐traumatic origin. The most common non-­‐traumatic diagnosis varies with age; adolescents and young adults suffer mostly from patellofemoral pain syndrome, jumper’s knee (knee extensor tendinitis) or Osgood-­‐Schlatter disease, while adults suffer mostly from bursitis, tendinitis or osteoarthritis (OA). Traumatic knee complaints include contusion, distortion, collateral ligament lesion, cruciate lesion, meniscal tear, patella-­‐luxation and fractures.2 In spite of the finding that knee complaints are a common disorder in general practice, clinical evidence on the management of this subject in general practice is scarce. To improve the management of knee complaints in general practice, evidence is needed on diagnosis, long-­‐term natural course and prognostic factors for persistent knee complaints and the development of knee OA. Therefore, we performed a prospective observational cohort study (the HONEUR knee cohort) with a six-­‐year follow-­‐up, aimed to assess the natural course of knee complaints and to study prognostic factors for persistent knee complaints in general practice.

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