The effect of a 12 week prehabilitation program on pain and function for patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty: A prospective controlled study

Abstract Background The concept of preparing the body before a stressful event, such as surgery, has been termed “prehabilitation” (preoperative physiotherapy and exercise programs). Prehabilitation programs for people awaiting total knee arthroplasty (TKA) have positive effects on patients health status and may also lead to better postoperative outcomes. Aim The purpose of this study was to examine effect of a prehabilitation program on knee pain, functional ability among patients with knee osteoarthritis after TKA surgery. Study Design A Prospective Controlled Study. Patients and Methods Subjects enrolled in this prospective controlled study who referred to our Orthopedics and Traumatology outpatient clinic between 2014 April–2015 May, had severe OA with pain not responsive to conservative treatment and scheduled for unilateral TKA. Subjects were assigned to a control or prehabilitation group. Patients of prehabilitation group were recruited from the orthopaedic waiting lists for primary unilateral TKA. Partipicants in the prehabilitation group were prescribed a training program that consisted of education and home-based exercise 12 weeks before the operation. After the TKA, all subjects partipicated in the same postoperative rehabilitation protocol. Evaluations were made before the surgery, with follow-up assessments at 3 and 6 months after surgery. Knee pain was assessed by the use of a 10-cm Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and function assesed by Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) scale. Results A statistically significant improvement was observed in the values of VAS and all subsclaes of KOOS in both groups at third and sixth month compared to baseline. The intergroup comparison of the improvement (pre-post scores at sixth month) did not show any statistically significant diffeferences in VAS and KOOS scores. Conclusion Our results show that prehabilitation before TKA is not superior to surgical treatment alone but about 20% of the patients changed their operation decision. So it is important to be able to postpone this process especially in the early period.