CLINICAL OUTCOMES OF POST-OPERATIVE EXERCISE AND REHABILITATION FOR ELDERLY INDIVIDUALS FOLLOWING TOTAL KNEE ARTHROPLASTY

: A QUASI-SYSTEMATIC AND NARRATIVE REVIEW

Abstract

Increasing number of the elderly population nowadays raised concern in medical care in the field of the physiotherapist. Due to the frailty of physical condition, ageing in this population tends to develop arthritis in the weight-bearing joints, specifically the knees. The elderly patients were thereby being hindered from pain-free mobility and physical independence. Surgical intervention of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) should be implemented to treat the joint pain condition. Post-operative exercise and rehabilitation following operation are required to enhance the physical recovery process at post-surgery. This study was conducted in a quasi-systematic and narrative review, utilising relevant existing literature provided on electronic databases. Based on the retrieved result from included studies, balance and resistance training are the most common intervention programmes that applied to patients. At post-intervention, the elderly patients exhibited an improvement in clinical outcomes, additionally with functional outcomes. However, some studies revealed adverse outcomes of worsening in the operated knee joint from post-operative exercise and rehabilitation. In conclusion, currently, no universal gold standard protocols for these intervention programmes regarding physiotherapist for the elderly population are available due to limited existing literature; however, balance and resistance training are only two interventions that show positive effects with zero detrimental outcomes reported. Therefore, this study primarily focuses on the clinical, as well as functional outcomes of physical recovery after the utilising of such interventions, to visualise feasible and safe rehabilitation programmes suitable for, specifically, the elderly patients underwent TKA.

Date of Award	2021
Original language	English
Supervisor	Andrew Murphy (Supervisor) & Tim Drew (Supervisor)