The aim of the text is to provide a state-of-the-art overview of evidence-informed examination and conservative management of hip/knee pain conditions. Under the current predominantly evidence-based practice paradigm, clinician expertise, patient preference, and best available research determine examination, prognostic, and clinical management decisions. However, this paradigm has been understood by many to place greater value and emphasis on the research component thereby devaluing the other two. Evidence-informed practice is a term that has been suggested to honor the original intent of evidence-based practice, while also acknowledging the value of clinician experiences and expertise. In essence, evidence-informed practice combines clinical reasoning, based on current best evidence, with authority-based knowledge and a pathophysiological rationale derived from extrapolation of basic science knowledge. Unlike other published textbooks that overemphasize the research component in decision-making, this book aims to address the clinical reality of having to make decisions on the management of a patient with hip/knee pain , in the absence of a comprehensive scientific rationale, using other sources of knowledge. It offers an evidence-informed textbook that values equally research evidence, clinician expertise and patient preference. It will serve as a valuable resource for modern health care practitioner in clinical practice.

The book is unique in bringing together multimodal approaches to the management of hip and knee pain by integrating the different therapeutic strategies available from a clinical and evidence-based point of view. It integrates manual therapies and exercise programs in a multimodal approach to the management of these pain conditions from both a clinical, but also evidence-based, perspective and acknowledges the expanding direct access role of the physiotherapy profession. It will be useful as a textbook for students at both entry and post-graduate level and an important reference textbook for clinicians of all professions interested in conservative management of the hip and knee regions.

All three Editors are recognised world-wide as leaders in clinical research into manual therapy and chronic pain. The lead Editor (BM) specialises in the management of hip and knee pain disorders. Between them the Editors have published more than 500 papers and edited more than 10 textbooks. Their research activities are concentrated on the evidence-based management of musculoskeletal pain conditions using conservative interventions. For this book they will combine their knowledge and clinical expertise with that of 38 additional contributors, all specialists in the field, to provide a state-of-the-art overview of evidence-informed examination and conservative management of hip/knee pain conditions. The contributors include a mix of clinicians and clinician-researchers, ranging from expert practitioners in orthopaedic physiotherapy to world-level researchers on the topic of hip and knee pain disorders. All the contributors focus their main clinical or research practice on topics included in the textbook, but particularly the lower extremity.