Objectives: As the population is growing older, incidence of knee osteoarthritis is largely increasing
and the rate total knee arthroplasty surgery is following that same trend. However, patients postoperatively are retaining weakness in the quadriceps and hip abductors for a period reaching up to 3
years following surgery. The current literature results on the effectivenes s of rehabilitation programs
that also includes hip strengthening exercises are still highly contradicting. This meta -analysis studies
and assesses the efficacy of hip strengthening exercises following total knee arthroplasty surgery.
Methods: PubMed, Embase, Cochrane and Google Scholar (page 1-20) were searched till January 2024. The
clinical outcomes consisted of the post-operative tests (6MWT, TUG, SLS), pain, and range of motion (flexion and
extension).
Results: Three randomized clinical studies were included in the meta-analysis. When compared to the standard
rehabilitation, hip strengthening exercises proved a better improvement of single leg stance with no difference
observed in the remaining outcomes.
Conclusion: Hip strengthening exercise protocols ensured a better improvement of single leg stance scores.
However, no difference was observed in the remaining analyzed outcomes. This contradictions between studies
can be explained by the different physical therapy protocols used. Nevertheless, more randomized controlled studies
are needed to confirm such results.
Level of evidence: II |
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