‘If you can’t help me, so help me God I will cut it off myself…’ The experience of living with knee pain: a qualitative meta-synthesis

To identify and explore the feelings and experiences of people living with knee pain as a precursor to exploring how this might contribute to improved care in the future. The qualitative meta-synthesis was undertaken in three parts (1) a systematic search of the literature, (2) a critical appraisal of the relevant studies and (3) meta-aggregation of the findings from the selected studies. A qualitative meta-synthesis is a process that enables researchers to answer a specific research question by combining and summarising a variety of qualitative sources. This was undertaken using a contextualist approach which acknowledges different realities exist but tries to determine an underlying ‘truth’. The participants from the selected studies were from a range of settings and ethnic groups, and cultural backgrounds. There were nine articles included in the meta-synthesis. Articles focused on the experiences of surgery, return to sport, or other aspects of care were excluded. No articles were excluded following critical appraisal. Eleven categories were identified from 55 findings which resulted in two synthesised findings being identified: knee pain affects every aspect of life and Searching for the best way forward. Articles were largely limited to older adults living with osteoarthritis. Many of the findings did not report demographic data. Only English language studies were included. Many people living with knee pain struggle to adapt to living with knee pain and this is often exacerbated by a lack of knowledge and available information to help them plan for the future. CRD42017070227.