Predicting physical activity recovery after hip and knee arthroplasty? A longitudinal cohort study

Recovery of physical activity (PA) after telerehabilitation following knee and hip arthroplasty (TKA-THA) has rarely been studied. An improved understanding of PA recovery is needed, as it could be influenced by many factors such as age, gender or pre-operative physical function.

To assess PA recovery weekly for 3 months after TKA-THA and to determine perioperative factors that could help predict PA recovery at 3 months.

From one week before until 3 months after surgery, 132 patients wore a fitness tracker continuously. Each patient received personalized and daily exercises and feedback through a tablet. Before and after surgery, patient-reported outcome measures of symptoms, pain, activities of daily living and quality of life were recorded. A one-way repeated-measure ANOVA was used to assess the time effect on step count for each post-operative week. To predict the absolute step count at 3 months post-surgery, a backward multiple linear regression was used.

Patients reached their pre-operative PA level at week 7, with no significant additional improvement by 3 months post-surgery. Pre-operative step count, the number of days using crutches and pre-operative symptoms explained 35% of the variability of step count at 3 months.

This patient population receiving telerehabilitation reached their pre-operative PA level at 7-week post-surgery with no further improvement over the subsequent 5 weeks. The PA level at 3 months could be predicted by pre-operative step count, duration of crutches use, and pre-operative symptoms.