A study on brake-accelerator reaction times in elderly patients after artificial knee joint and hip joint replacement...

This study clarified the time required to return to preoperative levels after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and total hip arthroplasty (THA) using the time to release the accelerator pedal and switch to the brake.

Drivers' license holders who underwent right-sided TKA or THA were included. A driving simulator featuring a three-screen monitor employing HONDA Safety Navi^® was used. Simple and selective reaction tests were conducted. One-way repeated-measures ANOVA was based on the results of the simple and selective response tasks for each period. Bonferroni's multiple comparison test served as a post-hoc analysis for items with significant differences in the one-way ANOVA.

A total of 110 patients (32 males, 78 females; mean age 69.8 ± 7.6 years) completed the study (TKA = 64, THA = 46). In the simple reaction test, patients who underwent THA exhibited a significantly quicker reaction time 3 weeks postoperatively compared with the preoperative and 1-week postoperative periods. The speed of reaction behavior in the selective response test was significantly faster 3 weeks postoperatively than preoperatively and 1-week postoperatively.

Patients who undergo TKA and THA may potentially resume driving as early as 1 week after surgery.