Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Mar 1;4(1):20-25.
doi: 10.22540/JFSF-04-020. eCollection 2019 Mar.

The benefits to functional ambulation and physical activity of group-based rehabilitation in frail elderly Bulgarians undergoing total knee arthroplasty. Preliminary results

Julian Krumov  1 , Vasil Obretenov  1 , Alexandrina Vodenicharova  2 , Kostantin Kanalev  3 , Vladimir Stavrev  4 , Troycho Troev  5 , Jannis Papathanasiou  6
Affiliations

The benefits to functional ambulation and physical activity of group-based rehabilitation in frail elderly Bulgarians undergoing total knee arthroplasty. Preliminary results

Julian Krumov et al. J Frailty Sarcopenia Falls. .

Abstract

Objectives: Frailty is a geriatric syndrome associated with increased vulnerability of older adults. Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is the most prevalent joint disease and one of the leading causes of disability and poor physical activity (PA) of elderly individuals worldwide. Total knee arthroplasty TKA has been recognized as an effective surgical treatment in end-stage of knee OA. There is a lack of consensus regarding the universally accepted rehabilitation protocol for frail elderly subjects after TKA.

Aim: to evaluate the potential benefits in functional ambulation (FA) and PA among frail elderly Bulgarian subjects underwent TKA, a novel group-based rehabilitation protocol was performed from the subjects.

Materials and methods: A total of 130 frail elderly Bulgarian TKA recipients (67 women and 63 men aged 72, 69 ± 0.44,) were included. FA was assessed by the six-minute walking distance (6MWD). PA was evaluated by the PASE questionnaire. Participants were evaluated one week before TKA, as well as 3 and 6 months after the group-based rehabilitation.

Results: Significant increase in FA was observed at the third and sixth month after the group-based intervention (p< 0.001). PASE score, was increased at the third and sixth month after the group-based intervention (p<0.001, r2=0.74).

Conclusions: Our results suggest that the applied group-based intervention led to a significant improvement in FA as well as in PA of frail elderly subjects over the first six months after the group-based intervention.

Keywords: Frailty; Group-based Rehabilitation; Knee Osteoarthritis; PASE; Total Knee Arthroplasty.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The increase of 6MWD in both age-related groups.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ferrucci Luigi, Hesdorffer Charles, Bandinelli Stefania, Simonsick Eleanor. Frailty as a Nexus Between the Biology of Aging, Environmental Conditions and Clinical Geriatrics. Public Health Reviews. 2010;32:475–488. 10.1007/BF03391612.
    1. Musumeci A, Pignataro A, Ferlito E, Lazzari V, Zatti H, Masiero S, Exercise for Frail Older Adults . Rehabilitation Medicine for Elderly Patients. In: Masiero S, Carraro U, editors. Practical Issues in Geriatrics. Springer: Cham; 2018.
    1. Kuzuya M. Process of physical disability among older adults - contribution of frailty in the super-aged society. Nagoya J Med Sci. 2012;74:31–37. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chen X, Mao G, Leng SX. Frailty syndrome:an overview. Clin Interv Aging. 2014;9:433–44. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lang PO, Michel JP, Zekry D. Frailty syndrome:a transitional state in a dynamic process. Gerontology. 2009;55:539–549. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources