Detailled Information

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The WOMAC is a proprietary health status questionnaire protected by copyright and trademark. To obtain permission to use the WOMAC for research purposes, a request can be submitted at www.womac .org. Licensing processes and costs are determined on the basis of information specific to each research project 

The WOMAC was designed to assess pain, stiffness, and physical function in patients with hip and / or knee osteoarthritis.

The WOMAC consists of 24 items divided into 3 subscales:  Pain (5 items): during walking, using stairs, in bed, sitting or lying, and standing; Stiffness (2 items): after first waking and later in the day;  Physical Function (17 items): stair use, rising from sitting, standing, bending, walking, getting in / out of a car, shopping, putting on / taking off socks, rising from bed, lying in bed, getting in / out of bath, sitting, getting on / off toilet, heavy household duties, light household duties

The WOMAC is typically scored by hand. On the Likert Scale version, the scores are summed for items in each subscale. On the Visual Analog version, a ruler is used to measure the distance (in mm) from the left end marker to the patient's mark. For each item, the possible range of scores is therefore 0-100. Items are summed for each subscale. Most commonly, a total WOMAC score is created by summing the items for all three subscales .