PLoS ONE (Jan 2015)

Gait variability before surgery and at discharge in patients who undergo total knee arthroplasty: a cohort study.

  • Yoshinori Hiyama,
  • Tsuyoshi Asai,
  • Osamu Wada,
  • Hideto Maruno,
  • Shingo Nitta,
  • Kiyonori Mizuno,
  • Yasunobu Iwasaki,
  • Shuichi Okada

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0117683
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 1
p. e0117683

Abstract

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This study aimed to determine gait ability at hospital discharge in patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty (TKA) as an indicator of the risk of falling. Fifty-seven patients undergoing primary TKA for knee osteoarthritis participated in this study. Gait variability measured with accelerometers and physical function including knee range of motion (ROM), quadriceps strength, walking speed, and the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test were evaluated preoperatively and at discharge from the hospital (1 month before and 5 days after surgery). All patients were discharged directly home at 5 days after surgery. Knee flexion of ROM, quadriceps strength, walking speed, and the TUG test results were significantly worse at hospital discharge than preoperatively (p < 0.001). However, gait variability was not significantly different before and after TKA. This result indicated that patients following TKA surgery could walk at hospital discharge as stably as preoperatively regardless of the decrease in physical function, including knee ROM, quadriceps strength, and gait speed after surgery.