Pain on movement (over the preceding week) in the primary OA joint was measured with a VAS numbered in 1-cm intervals. Previous research indicated that such a scale is a valid, reliable, and responsive technique for assessing pain in subjects with OA when completed by those subjects.18,19 Subject-perceived global changes (since trial commencement) in pain and physical function were recorded on 5-point Likert scales ranging from 1 (much worse) to 5 (much
better). Participants who scored their global changes as 4 or 5 were classified as showing improvement, and those scoring their changes as 1, 2, or 3 were classified as not showing improvement.