Patients Must Relearn Sit-Stand Movement After Knee Replacement

Posted 6/17/08

New research out of the University of Delaware (UD) indicates that patients who have undergone total knee arthroplasty (TKA) need to relearn the proper techniques of moving from a sitting to standing position. The study was originally published in the may issue of Physical Therapy, the scientific journal of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA).

"Because most patients with knee replacement have lived with debilitating pain for years, they work around the pain by adopting different strategies to avoid using their weakened quadriceps femoris muscle (muscle in front of the thigh) when going from a sit-to-a-stand position," says Lynn Snyder-Mackler, PT, ScD, SCS, ATC, FAPTA, one of the study investigators.

The study showed that the patients relied on a larger hip extensor movement (leaning far forward to rise) to perform the sit-to-stand task. The strategy, although dangerous because of the risk of falling, had become second-nature to them, observed Snyder-Mackler. "Simply put, it was a learned movement pattern that could not be resolved without retraining by a physical therapist, usually beginning 4-6 weeks after surgery when weight can be put equally on both legs," she concluded.

Snyder-Mackler found that, in order to get up from a chair, patients would bend forward at the hips and use the hips to stand up, moving the center of gravity forward. This makes the task easier, but is less stable and could lead to falls. The retraining would involve teaching the patient to rise up from the chair without bending forward, most likely by allowing the use of the arms to help push up in order to develop the correct pattern and eventually moving to performing the task without the use of the arms. "Because the incorrect movement pattern could potentially contribute to the development of future knee osteoarthritis, retraining may be an important prevention strategy," concluded Snyder-Mackler.

This article was adapted from a press release issued by the American Physical Therapy Association.