Association of Physical Therapy Interventions With Long-term Opioid Use After Total Knee Replacement

Many individuals who undergo total knee replacement (TKR) become long-term opioid users after TKR. Associations of physical therapy (PT) interventions before or after TKR with long-term use of opioids are not known. To evaluate associations of PT interventions before and after TKR with long-term opioid use after TKR. This cohort study used data from the OptumLabs Data Warehouse on 67 322 individuals aged 40 years or older who underwent TKR from January 1, 2001, to December 31, 2016, stratified by history of opioid use. The analyses for the study included data from January 1, 1999, to December 31, 2018. Any PT interventions within 90 days before or after TKR, post-TKR PT dose as number of sessions (ie, 1-5, 6-12, and ≥13 sessions), post-TKR PT timing as number of days to initiation of care (ie,