Poster 4: Comparative efficacy of 3 in-hospital rehabilitation programs on knee flexion after total knee arthroplasty: a randomized controlled trial

Objective: To compare the efficacy of 3 in-hospital rehabilitation programs with and without continuous passive motion (CPM) on knee flexion after a primary total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Design: Randomized controlled trial. Setting: Acute care hospital. Patients: 81 patients who underwent a TKA for a diagnosis of osteoarthritis were randomly assigned to 3 groups immediately after TKA: group I: conventional rehabilitation (CONV) only (n=27); group II: CONV and CPM 35min/d (n=26); and group III: CONV and CPM 2h/d (n=28). Interventions: Rehabilitation programs began the day after TKA and continued once a day until discharge. All patients were evaluated twice: before TKA and 7 to 8 days after. Main Outcome Measure: The primary measure was active knee flexion as measured with a manual goniometer in seated position by a physical therapist blinded to the study. Results: Patients’ baseline characteristics were similar. No difference between groups was found for knee flexion after intervention (ANOVA, P=.33; 95% CI of group differences: groups I-II: −5.8° to 9.2°; groups I-III: −10.3° to 4.5°; groups II-III: −12.1° to 2.9°). Conclusion: Our results did not support the use of CPM, as applied in this study, during the acute phase of rehabilitation after TKA.