Telerehabilitation After Total Knee Arthroplasty

Early Function Recovery in Geriatric Patients With Total Knee Arthroplasty by Telerehabilitation

The aim of this study was to assess the function, pain intensity and walking distance in patients prior to and after total knee arthroplasty, who received therapy either in a clinic under direct supervision of a physical therapist and patients who received telerehabilitation.

The study population consisted of 105 patients who had knee arthroplasty due to knee arthrosis followed by 6- weeks physiotherapy, mean age 68.5 ± 7.3 years. The patients were randomly divided into two groups: I - telerehabilitation group (n=54), and II clinical control group (n=51), who received physiotherapy supervised by physiotherapist. All patients were given the following tests: VAS (0-10), 6-Minute Walk Test, and KSS - Knee Society Score.

Inclusion Criteria:

• total cemented knee arthroplasty with posterior stability (PS -cruciate sacrificing, posterior stabilized),
• informed consent to participate in the study,
• full medical record,
• patients' regular control visits,
• knee degenerative disorder stage II and III according to Altman classification,
• ability to understand and independently perform the complete physiotherapeutic programme

Exclusion Criteria:

• partial arthroplasty,
• deformation aetiology other knee degenerative disorder,
• cognitive disorders resulting in inability to fill out the study questionnaire, - degenerative disorders of multiple joints,
• poor general health that prevented the patient from understanding or performing the full physiotherapeutic programme,
• intraoperative and postoperative complications preventing the patient from understanding or performing the full physiotherapeutic programme,
• lack of informed consent to participate in the study.