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Does TKA Improve Functional Outcome and Range of Motion in Patients with Stiff Knees?

  • Original Article
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Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research

Abstract

The main goals of TKA are pain relief and improvement of function and range of motion (ROM). To ascertain whether TKA in patients with stiff knees would relieve pain and improve functional outcome and ROM, we asked four questions: whether (1) Knee Society and WOMAC scores would improve after TKA; (2) poor preoperative ROM would improve after TKA; (3) the revision rate of TKA in stiff knees would be high; and (4) complication rates would be high in these patients after TKA. We retrospectively reviewed 74 patients (86 knees) with stiff knees (mean age, 56.8 years) who underwent TKAs with a condylar constrained or a posterior stabilized prosthesis. The minimum followup was 5 years (mean, 9.1 years; range, 5–12 years). The mean preoperative Hospital for Special Surgery knee score and Knee Society knee and functional scores were 42, 11, and 42 points, respectively, and postoperatively they were 84, 90, and 84 points, respectively. Preoperative and postoperative total WOMAC scores were 73 and 34 points, respectively. One knee (1.2%) had aseptic loosening of the tibial component and 12 knees (14%) had complications. Despite a relatively high rate of complications, most patients had substantial improvement in function.

Levels of Evidence: Level III, therapeutic study. See the Guidelines for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

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Acknowledgment

We thank Yoowang Choi, MD, clinical fellow, for collecting data for this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Joint Replacement Center of Korea, Ewha Womans University School of Medicine, MokDong Hospital, 911-1, MokDong, YangCheon-Gu, Seoul, 158-710, South Korea

    Young-Hoo Kim MD & Jun-Shik Kim MD

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  1. Young-Hoo Kim MD
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  2. Jun-Shik Kim MD
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Correspondence to Young-Hoo Kim MD.

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Each author certifies that he or she has no commercial association (eg, consultancies, stock ownership, equity interest, patent/licensing arrangements, etc) that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted article.

Each author certifies that his or her institution has approved the human protocol for this investigation, that all investigations were conducted in conformity with ethical principles of research, and that informed consent for participation in the study was obtained.

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Kim, YH., Kim, JS. Does TKA Improve Functional Outcome and Range of Motion in Patients with Stiff Knees?. Clin Orthop Relat Res 467, 1348–1354 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11999-008-0445-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11999-008-0445-7

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