Knee Surgery Recovery Sped By Early Rehab

A new study suggests that undergoing rehabilitation earlier on following knee surgery can help speed recovery in patients. In fact, the study shows that the sooner rehabilitation procedures begin following knee replacement surgery, the better. This applies not only to the patients, but to hospitals as well.

The study was published March 7 in the peer-reviewed medical journal Clinical Rehabilitation. In the study, researchers compared over one hundred and fifty patients who started rehabilitation within twenty-four hours following knee replacement surgery (arthroplasty) to a control group that began rehabilitation between forty-eight and seventy-two hours afterward. All patients were aged fifty to seventy-five, and the study included both male and female patients.

Patients who began the rehabilitation process earlier spent an average of two days less in the hospital, and had on average five fewer sessions of rehabilitation before being discharged, when compared to the control group. Patients in the early rehabilitation group also suffered from less pain, had an improved range for joint motion, regained muscle strength more quickly, and had higher scores on gait and balancing tests than the control group, according to Adelaida M. Castro Sanchez, of the University of Almeria.

Almeria also noted that hospitals are attempting to cut patient stays to help reduce costs, and that early rehabilitation after knee operations could play a role in this. Among the other benefits of early rehabilitation for knee operation patients are a reduced risk of contracting infectious diseases during hospital stays (because of the reduced length of their visit), as well as reduced chances of complications such as deep-vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolisms, and infections of the chest and urinary tract.

The findings of the study could play a key role in helping patients reduce the stress attributed to undergoing surgery and rehabilitation, and could also improve the quality of life for patients who have undergone a knee operation more quickly. Hospitals will also be able to benefit from the reduced hospital stays of knee operation patients, which, due to the common nature of knee osteoarthritis, could mean a significant amount of savings on patient costs. Patients who undergo knee surgery are also more likely to recover muscle mass more quickly and experience a smaller chance of developing side effects and complications than those that wait.