Social support and therapeutic relationships intertwine to influence exercise behavior in people with sport-related knee injuries

ABSTRACT

Objective

Explore how social support influences exercise therapy participation and adherence before and after enrolling in an education and exercise therapy intervention (Stop OsteoARthritis, SOAR).

Methods

Study design: Interpretative description. We sampled participants with sport-related knee injuries from the SOAR randomized controlled trial. SOAR is a virtual, physiotherapist-guided, education and exercise therapy-based knee health program that targets individuals at risk of early osteoarthritis. One-on-one semi-structured interviews were completed, and an inductive approach was guided by Braun & Clarke’s reflexive thematic analysis.

Results

Fifteen participants (67% female, median age 26 [19–35] years) were interviewed. Three themes were generated that encapsulated participants’ social support experiences that fostered exercise participation: 1) Treat me as a whole person represented the value of social support that went beyond participants’ physical needs, 2) Work with me highlighted the working partnership between the clinician and the participant, and 3) Journey with me indicated a need for on-going support is necessary for the long-term management of participants’ knee health. A theme of the therapeutic relationship was evident across the findings.

Conclusions

Insight was gained into how and why perceived support may be linked to exercise behavior, with the therapeutic relationship being potentially linked to perceived support. Social support strategies embedded within an education and exercise therapy program may boost exercise adherence after sport-related knee injuries.

KEYWORDS:

• Sport injuries
• exercise therapy
• adherence
• rehabilitation
• qualitative

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/09593985.2024.2315520.

Additional information

Funding

Funding to conduct this study came from the Arthritis Society (STAR 19–0493). The Arthritis Society had no role in the design of the study, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation or writing of this or future manuscripts. LKT is supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Fellowship (CIHR FRN:176591). JML is supported by the Arthritis Society. LCL is funded by a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Patient-oriented Knowledge Translation and holds the Harold Robinson/Arthritis Society Chair in Arthritic Diseases. JLW is supported by the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research and the Arthritis Society.