NICE have this week has recommended Apos footwear for people for whom non-surgical standard care has not worked well enough and who meet the referral criteria for total knee replacement surgery but cannot have, or do not want, surgery.
Mark Chapman, interim director of Medical Technology at NICE, said: “People with osteoarthritis of the knee can be in considerable pain going about their day-to-day lives and the evidence seen by our committee suggests this can be improved by wearing these shoes.
Clinical evidence from a high-quality randomised controlled trial shows that the Apos shoes improves scores for measuring pain, stiffness and function when compared with a sham device. The committee has called for further data to be collected, however, on quality of life, health resource use and long-term surgical outcomes for people with knee osteoarthritis who meet the criteria for total knee replacement surgery, but who cannot have or do not want total knee replacement surgery.
These findings certainly concur with the results that we see with Apos footwear with our clients. We are pleased that the effectiveness of simple and non-invasive treatment has now been recognised by NICE.