›Choose to Move: Replacement Ready aims to improve quality of life for participants with osteoarthritis.
For people on hip and knee replacement waitlists, the waiting period is often marked by increased pain, reduced mobility, and lower quality of life. To address this challenge, the Active Aging Research Team at UBC (AART), co-led by Professor Heather McKay and Joanie Sims Gould, Executive Director of the Active Aging Society and Clinical Associate Professor, with their collaborators, will implement and evaluate a health-promoting program called Choose to Move: Replacement Ready. This program builds on Choose to Move, a well-established, evidence-informed, health-promoting initiative delivered to more than 13,000 older adults across British Columbia for more than a decade.
“Projects like Choose to Move and Replacement Ready are about teamwork,” notes Professor Heather McKay. “Interdisciplinary academic, clinical and community partners are the secret sauce that drive their success. We are tremendously grateful for a CIHR Project grant that will support our efforts to implement and evaluate Choose to Move: Replacement Ready over the next 5 years”.
More than 14,000 people in British Columbia are currently on waitlists for hip or knee replacement surgery. Many experience ongoing pain, reduced mobility and lower quality of life during this time. While physical activity improves outcomes for people with osteoarthritis, those on surgical waitlists often face barriers to being physically active.
“We know from extensive research that physical activity offers significant benefits for people with hip and knee osteoarthritis, including those waiting for joint replacement surgery. Yet, many face barriers that make it difficult to stay active or access the right support while they wait,” explained AART Research Associate and physiotherapist Laura Churchill. Churchill worked with the Active Aging Research Team, Doctors of BC‘s Specialist Services Committee, the Active Aging Society, and academic and clinical partners to adapt Choose to Move specifically for people awaiting hip and knee replacement surgery. Early results from a feasibility trial show great promise.
Choose to Move: Replacement Ready has two main goals:
1. To assess how well the program can be implemented for people on surgical wait lists.
2. To evaluate whether participation improves the health of individuals during the waiting period.
The ultimate goal Choose to Move: Replacement Ready is to enhance the quality of life for people awaiting surgery for osteoarthritis, and potentially to delay or prevent their need for surgery.
Read more about the CIHR Project Grant Fall 2025 results here.