Unrestricted Rehabilitation Following Primary THA

Unrestricted Rehabilitation Following Primary Total Hip Arthroplasty: Implications for Patient Satisfaction and Functional Performance

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the form of rehabilitation following primary total hip arthroplasty has an influence on patient satisfaction or functional performance in the eighteen weeks following surgery.

The current standard of care following total hip replacement is to restrict patient activity and range-of-motion with the goal of avoiding dislocation of the operative hip. These restrictions are commonly referred to as "hip precautions". Several recent studies have demonstrated these precautions may be safely abandoned with no increased risk of dislocation when the surgery is carried through an anterior/lateral approach. Previous work has failed to address the issue of patient satisfaction and functional performance when patients are managed with an unrestricted rehabilitation protocol post-operatively. We propose a prospective, randomized clinical trial to determine whether an unrestricted postoperative rehabilitation protocol has an impact on patient satisfaction and functional performance following primary total hip arthroplasty.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age greater than 50 years
• Undergoing primary total hip arthroplasty at Holland Orthopaedic and Arthritic Centre

Exclusion Criteria:

• Any previous surgery about the ipsilateral hip
• Patients being considered for simultaneous bilateral total hip arthroplasty
• Patients with a neuromuscular disorder or recognized hypermobility syndrome
• Patients without sufficient language skills to communicate in spoken and written English