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Relaxation exercise therapy improves pain, muscle strength, and kinesiophobia following total knee arthroplasty in the short term: a randomized controlled trial

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Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy Aims and scope

Abstract

Purpose

This study aimed to compare progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) + standard physiotherapy (PT) to standard PT during inpatient rehabilitation of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) patients in terms of post-operative outcomes. The hypothesis was that PMR + standard PT would lead to better pain, function, and neuromuscular outcomes than standard PT.

Methods

A total of 106 patients were randomly allocated into PMR or standard rehabilitation (SR) groups. Both groups received standard PT during their hospital stay. PMR group additionally performed PMR exercise on post-operative days 1, 2, and 3. Patients were evaluated regarding pain intensity, functional outcomes, muscle strength, active range of motion, knee edema, anxiety, depression, and kinesiophobia.

Results

There were no differences between groups at baseline (n.s.). During the inpatient period and at discharge, the PMR group had better results in terms of pain relief (p < 0.05), quadriceps strength (p = 0.001), kinesiophobia level (p = 0.011) compared to the SR group. No difference was detected between groups regarding other evaluation parameters during the inpatient period, at discharge, and third post-operative month (n.s.). The within-group analysis showed statistically significant differences over time in both groups in each variable (p < 0.05).

Conclusion

Our findings support that PMR therapy offers beneficial results in subjective and objective measures of TKA patients during the inpatient period. Therefore, PMR therapy could be implemented into the rehabilitation program of TKA patients to enhance their early recovery from various symptoms following TKA.

Level of evidence

II.

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Acknowledgements

The authors appreciate all the people who cooperated in this research.

Funding

There was no funding for this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Dokuz Eylul University, TR-35340, Balçova, Izmir, Turkey

    Musa Eymir & Bayram Unver

  2. Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, School of Medicine, Dokuz Eylul University, TR-35340, Balçova, Izmir, Turkey

    Vasfi Karatosun

Authors
  1. Musa Eymir
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  2. Bayram Unver
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  3. Vasfi Karatosun
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Correspondence to Musa Eymir.

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This study was approved by the Local Medical Ethical Committee.

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Eymir, M., Unver, B. & Karatosun, V. Relaxation exercise therapy improves pain, muscle strength, and kinesiophobia following total knee arthroplasty in the short term: a randomized controlled trial. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc 30, 2776–2785 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-021-06657-x

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