Dietitian-led Osteoarthritis Joint Pain Program

Everyone has their own unique journey and support needs and the HWFL Team are here to help you.

You can phone, SMS, email or send us a Message Board at any time and we will contact you ASAP to discuss a personal plan.

We can even support you to find face-to-face help in your local area if needed.

Once you log in you can use your own Private Message Board to communicate directly, privately and securely with the HWFL team.

For example you can:

• • Post questions for the team  whenever they come to mind - day or night - and we will respond and send you a text message to let you know there is a new message for you.

• • Attach pictures of your meals for review by our dietitians.

• • Post pictures to show the team how you are progressing

The HWFL Week-by-Week Guide is the book that forms the backbone of the HWFL programs.

Here you will find every chapter of your HWFL Week-by-week book (view) ready to review at any time.

You can read the content easily on your phone, tablet or computer or download a PDF of your favourite chapter for printing.

This is a great way to keep the key topics fresh in your mind whilst travelling or when you don't have access to your hard copy book.

Strong lower limb muscles are an important aspect of your overall health and mobility.

The Stand Up To Joint Pain exercise series is a comprehensive set of exercises designed by a team of physiotherapists to help:

• • Strengthen your lower limb muscles

• • Improve joint mobility

• • Reduce the level of stiffness you experience in the joint and

• • Improve your general functions of daily living and quality of life

In your personal Member Hub there are over 40 individual physio exercises in 3 progressive levels each with an instructional and educational video and written guide.

You have the flexibility:

• • To start with Level One and progress through to the next levels only as you are comfortable to do so.

• • To focus on exercises grouped to target the muscles that are important for specific functional improvement and pain reduction.

• • To build small groups of strength, balance and mobility exercises into your daily routine.

Whether you're cooking for one or many, entertaining or just looking for a simple snack to get you through, you'll find some great recipe and serving suggestions in your online Member Hub and your Healthy Weight For Life Week-by-week guide.

You will find a whole series of great recipes across a range of categories such as:

• • Free Food Snacks & Sides

• • Breakfast

• • Lunch

• • Dinner

Track your weight management progress and watch your graphs develop over time.

Recording your progress over the course of your program is essential to maintaining motivation and will help you recognise when personal milestones have been reached.

However - remember the HWFL programs are about good health - and not just dropping kilos.

So don't become obsessed with your scales or compare your progress with others - some people will naturally lose more than others depending on their muscle mass and certain metabolic differences.

Some of the other ways you can assess the benefit of your weight loss include:

• • Significantly improve knee and hip pain and physical mobility

• • Improve blood pressure (BP) management.

• • Improve blood glucose levels. Effective weight loss can prevent progression to type 2 diabetes in many people.

• • Improve cholesterol and triglycerides

• • Decrease snoring and resolve or improve sleep apnoea

• • Improve energy levels and overall sense of wellbeing

Tracking your progress over the long term

We all lead busy lives and unless we make a habit of keeping track of our weight or waist circumference, we often don't notice that our weight has started to increase.

With consistent self monitoring you will be able to keep yourself on track over the long term by becoming aware of problem behaviours or negative progress as it occurs and to be able to act quickly to implement strategies to improve the situation before you get too far off track.

The KOOS (Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score) and HOOS (Hip dysfunction and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score) surveys are validated tools to help measure how well your most troublesome knee or hip responds to treatment.

The survey looks at the different areas impacted by knee or hip osteoarthritis, allowing you and your healthcare team to track how you are feeling about your joint at a given point in time, and how well you are able to do your usual activities.

The surveys can also help identify specific problem areas that may need special attention.

In your Member Hub detailed information sheets are linked to key KOOS and HOOS sections to help you take action to improve your symptoms.

Weight management and lifestyle modification can have a significant positive impact on a whole range of health indicators such as:

• • Blood pressure

• • Cholesterol (total, HDL, LDL)

• • Triglycerides

• • HbA1c

• • Fasting blood glucose

You can record health indicator measurements over time to help assess your progress.

These measurements should be conducted by your health professional, and only if deemed appropriate.

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Losing weight can lower your blood pressure, your blood sugar and / or cholesterol levels so if you have these conditions, or are taking any medications regularly for ongoing medical conditions, you will need to let your doctor or specialist know before you start losing weight as they will need to monitor you carefully and may need to reduce some of your medications.

HWFL Team Pharmacist

If you have questions about your medication please don't hesitate to call and speak to our HWFL pharmacist who will be able to help you understand your medication and questions you should be asking your GP or local pharmacist.

The most important goal of the Healthy Weight For Life programs is helping you achieve the health outcomes that are important to you!

Using the My Motivations diary on your Member Hub to share your personal health and wellbeing motivation and goals with the HWFL team is an important step as it helps us all maintain a focus on working towards achieving the goals that are important to you. It will also help make the effort needed to change long term habits feel worthwhile.

Motivation is very personal and can include anything that is important for you. Some examples of personal motivators of HWFL Members include:

• • Dance without pain

• • Be able to go up and down stairs without pain

• • Reduce pain medication

• • Build strength and mobility

• • Fit into old clothes

• • Play with grandkids

• • Find more energy

• • Play golf without a cart

• • Avoid joint replacemen

• • Feel stronger and be healthier for my children, family and friends

• • Be fit and healthy for holidays

• • Lower BP and sugar levels

• • Walk without getting puffed

• • Lose belly fat

• • Stop medication

• • Find the happier me and not feel so negative

• • Reduce associated health risks

Achieving personally meaningful health and wellbeing goals is a journey that needs to be broken down into small steps with clear mini goals or strategies to:

• • Build new positive habits and

• • Overcome the many personal challenges or barriers that can make the road to success a bit bumpy.

Using the My Challenges diary on your Member Hub to identify and share your personal challenges with the HWFL Team is a great start to the mini goal setting process.

With the HWFL Support, Structure and Expertise combined and your willingness to set goals and challenge yourself to overcome barriers, achieving positive health change that will get back to the healthy version of you can become a reality.

The HWFL Team has extensive experience in helping HWFL Members overcome 'real world' challenges. The numerous challenges identified by HWFL Members include:

Mind, mood, feelings:

• • Stress or comfort eating (family, work and emotional stress)

• • Work stress and tired

• • Mentally drained with low affect

• • Depression and binge eating

• • Use of food and alcohol to manage stress

• • Worried about putting the weight back on

• • Hunger

• • Negativity

Personal habits and behaviours:

• • Picking while cooking

• • Not drinking enough water

• • Alcohol

• • Wine with dinner

• • Afternoon  / night time snacking

• • Putting others first

• • Snacking while watching TV

• • Snacking between meals

• • Lack of physical activity

• • Hate vegetables

• • Craving carbs and sweet foods

• • Eating when bored

• • After work eating

Personal motivation:

• • Get bored easily

• • Staying on track & making time to exercise

• • Motivation to exercise

• • Laziness and lack of motivation

• • Small results make it easy to give up

Situations:

• • Eating out

• • Working away from home

• • Working from home

• • Travel for work

• • Shift work

• • Difficult when visitors arrive

• • Cooler weather

• • Excessive heat in summer

• • Afternoon hunger

Time:

• • Life is too busy to find time to eat and exercise

• • Finding time for exercise

• • Too busy to give self-time

Physical:

• • Too painful to exercise

• • Shortness of breath when walking

• • Finding the right exercise that supports weight loss