Independent home versus supervised rehabilitation following arthroscopic knee surgery--a prospective randomized trial

This prospective study compared 30 patients randomly assigned to either a home exercise program or supervised outpatient physical therapy following arthroscopic partial medial meniscectomy. Their knee functions were assessed at 2, 4, and 8 weeks postoperatively using isokinetic analysis and subjective questionnaires. At each evaluation, the home exercise group performed as well or better than the supervised physical therapy group. There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups. At 4 weeks postoperation, the mean percent deficit in torque (strength) between the affected and unaffected limbs was 22.1% in the supervised rehabilitation group and 22.0% in the home exercise. The percent deficit in terms of endurance was 7.7% in the supervised group and 3.6% in the home group. Similar results were noted with regard to the patients' subjective evaluations of their knee function and ability to resume work and recreational activities. We conclude that a well-planned, unsupervised home exercise knee rehabilitation program can produce equally good postoperative recovery as compared to a supervised outpatient physical therapy regimen in properly selected patients following arthroscopic partial meniscectomy of the knee.