Does Pre-Operative Physiotherapy Improve Outcomes in Primary Total Knee Arthroplasty? - A Systematic Review

Abstract

We undertook a systematic review of 11 randomised controlled trials comparing patient outcomes in total knee arthroplasty in those who had undergone pre-operative physiotherapy-based interventions against control groups. Results show that there is little evidence that pre-operative physiotherapy brings about significant improvements in patient outcome scores, lower limb strength, pain, range of movement and hospital length of stay following total knee arthroplasty. The overall quality of the studies was moderate to poor, mostly due to the small sample sizes.

Keywords: exercise; knee arthroplasty; knee replacement; osteoarthritis; physiotherapy.