Activity lower than patients hoped after knee replacement (Reuters)
After recovering from knee replacement surgery, patients' physical activity levels with their new joint were significantly lower than what they expected going in, in a new survey.
"My take is that total knee replacement is primarily for pain relief, it's not a lifestyle intervention," said Ewa Roos, an osteoarthritis researcher from the University of Southern Denmark in Odense, who wasn't involved in the study.
After surgery, "you need to change your lifestyle, you need an exercise intervention to improve your recreational function," she told Reuters Health.
Knee replacement surgery, also called arthroplasty, involves replacing damaged cartilage and bone in the knee with an implant.
Dina Jones, the lead author of the study from West Virginia University in Morgantown, said most people who have the surgery are pleased with the results in terms of having less pain and gaining more day-to-day function.
But less is known about their hopes for recreational activities, such as participating in sports, yoga or gardening, and whether they are fulfilled.
Jones and her colleagues surveyed 83 patients with arthritis who were a...
