Physiotherapy After Knee Replacement Surgery Helps In The Short Term

Editor's Choice
Main Category: Rehabilitation / Physical Therapy
Also Included In: Bones / Orthopaedics
Article Date: 21 Sep 2007 - 10:00 PDT

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A patient who had knee arthroplasty (knee replacement surgery) due to osteoarthritis will probably benefit from physiotherapy, at least in the short term, according to a report in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

Osteoarthritis is a common form of disability for elderly patients, explain the authors. Knee arthroplasty is commonly performed to help patients. However, even after surgery they might continue having problems with their routine tasks.

It is not currently clear whether physiotherapy should be offered as a matter of routine after the patient leaves hospital. Therefore, the researchers examined the evidence to find out how effective physiotherapy was after elective surgery for patients with osteoarthritis.

Their review included 614 patients. They measured effectiveness in terms of better function, quality of life, walking, knee joint motion range, and muscle strength.

The researchers found that there was a small to moderate effect of functional exercise on quality of life and joint motion three to four months after surgery. However, the effect was not sustained after one year.

Although the evidence is not conclusive, the researchers say, it seems sensible for patients to receive a short course of functional physiotherapy exercise after knee arthroplasty to provide short-term benefit. They added that further research might provide more conclusive results.

An accompanying editorial explains that there is a need for good quality research into the effectiveness of physiotherapy exercise programmes after knee arthroplasty.

"Effectiveness of physiotherapy exercise after knee arthroplasty for osteoarthritis: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials"
Catherine J Minns Lowe, Karen L Barker, Michael Dewey, Catherine M Sackley
BMJ, doi:10.1136/bmj.39311.460093.BE (published 20 September 2007)
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Physical Therapy (British, Irish, Australian English) = Physical Therapy (North American English)

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
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