The effectiveness of physiotherapy following discharge from hospital after primary total knee arthroplasty for osteoarthritis

Abstract

This thesis evaluates and explores the effectiveness of post discharge physiotherapy exercise following total knee arthroplasty (TKA) for osteoarthritis in three ways. 1. A systematic review evaluated the effectiveness of post discharge physiotherapy exercise on function, walking, range of motion, quality of life and muscle strength, for patients following elective primary TKA. Functional physiotherapy exercise interventions following discharge resulted in short term, but not long term, benefit. Effect sizes were small to moderate for function (0.33). Weighted mean differences were small to moderate for motion (2.9) and small for quality of life (1.66). 2. A randomised clinical trial compared the effectiveness of a post discharge physiotherapy intervention in improving patient function versus usual physiotherapy for patients undergoing primary TKA. No significant statistical differences were observed between the two groups for all outcomes. This early trial was underpowered and impacted upon by some important factors which could potentially have masked any treatment trends occurring in the home visit group. 3. Since blinding procedures are often assumed to indicate trial quality, the feasibility of achieving blind outcome assessment in a pragmatic physiotherapy rehabilitation trial involving older people was explored. Reasons for unblinding were explored and successful blinding rates of 81-91% were achieved.