CHESM Osteoarthritis Virtual Assistant

Privacy Notice

About

The Osteoarthritis Virtual Assistant (OVA) is a free, AI-powered chatbot developed by the Centre for Health, Exercise & Sports Medicine (CHESM) at the University of Melbourne. It provides clear, evidence-based answers to common questions about osteoarthritis and its management.

You can ask questions such as:

  • What causes osteoarthritis?
  • Is exercise safe?
  • What treatments are recommended?
  • Does weather or sleep affect joint pain?

OVA draws on clinical guidelines, research evidence and trusted patient resources to provide reliable information in plain language.

» Access OVA via the chat icon in the bottom right corner of this page to get started

Important information before you use

The Osteoarthritis Virtual Assistant  is designed as an educational tool.

  • It does not provide personalised medical advice
  • It does not diagnose conditions
  • It should not replace advice from a healthcare professional

If you have concerns about your health, please speak with a qualified clinician.

Privacy / Terms of Use

Privacy Notice

Terms of Use

Please do not enter personal or identifying information into OVA.

Avoid sharing sensitive or confidential information when using the chatbot.

All data entered is encrypted in transit and at rest. Data is stored via CustomGPT.ai on servers located in the United States.

The University of Melbourne AI principles and Guardrails for using Generative AI apply.

Third-parties

By using the osteoarthritis virtual assistant, please be aware that we are using third-party tools and their policies can be found:

Media

Read this Pursuit article featuring the Osteoarthritis Virtual Assistant

Read here

References

This document includes the references underpinning the knowledge used by the Osteoarthritis Virtual Assistant

View References

    OA Virtual Assistant Logo - What would you like to know about osteoarthritis today?

    The Osteoarthritis Virtual Assistant was designed and developed by physiotherapists (led by Rachel Nelligan, Professor Kim Bennell, Professor Rana Hinman, Alexander Kimp, and Thorlene Egerton) at the University of Melbourne in collaboration with String Theory Health (Matt O'Donnell and Steve Paix). It was funded by an Australian National Health and Medical Research grant.

    Take part in our other research projects

    ;