A balance exercise program appears to improve function for patients with total knee arthroplasty: a randomized...

Area of Science:

• Orthopedics
• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Geriatric Medicine

Background:

• Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) patients often experience impaired balance and movement control.
• Current exercise interventions do not adequately address these specific post-TKA impairments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the feasibility of a balance exercise program for TKA patients.
• To compare a functional training (FT) program with and without supplemental balance exercises (FT+B) for improving physical function.
• To inform the design and sample size calculation for a future larger randomized trial.

Main Methods:

• A double-blind, pilot randomized clinical trial involving 43 TKA patients (mean age 68 years).
• Interventions included 6 weeks of supervised FT or FT+B program, followed by a 4-month home exercise program.
• Feasibility was assessed via adherence, attrition, and adverse events. Primary outcomes included gait speed, chair rise test, and single-leg stance time.

Main Results:

• The balance training program was feasible, with high adherence and no adverse events.
• Both groups showed clinically meaningful improvements in lower-extremity function.
• The FT+B group exhibited potentially greater improvements in gait speed, single-leg stance time, and stiffness compared to the FT group.

Conclusions:

• The pilot study supports the feasibility of balance training in TKA patients.
• While not statistically significant due to sample size, results suggest potential benefits of combining functional and balance training.
• A larger randomized controlled trial is warranted to confirm the effectiveness of the FT+B program.