Automated squeeze test (Gaenslen’s manoeuvre) to identify patients with arthralgia suspicious for progression to RA: improving time delay to rheumatology consultation

We read with interest the article by van Steenbergen et al 1 and the response by Mankia et al .2 In the former, a definition of suspicious arthralgia was proposed and in the latter a new approach to identifying individuals at risk of progression to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) was discussed. We agree with Mankia et al that general practitioners (GPs) are the first contact for those patients at risk. In other countries a delay in referring patients with RA has been seen, and we have similarly detected a delay of 28.2 (SD 46.9) …