Effects of progressive resistance training for early postoperative fast-track total hip or knee arthroplasty: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Progressive resistance training (PRT) is one of the most commonly used exercise methods after joint replacement, while its effectiveness and safety are still controversial. Therefore, it's vital to investigate the effect of PRT on muscle strength and functional capacity early postoperative total hip arthroplasty (THA) or total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Relevant studies were identified via a search of Medline, Web of science and Cochrane Library from 2002 to 12 May 2020. Fifteen of 704 studies which comprised 6 THAs and 8 TKAs, involving 1021 adult patients were eligible for inclusion in the meta-analysis. There were no significant differences between the two groups after TKA in the 6-min walk test (6-WMT) within 1 month (95% CI =-0.41, 1.53), within 3 months (95% CI =-0.27, 0.76), within 12 months (95% CI =-0.29, 0.66); climb performance in seconds (s) (SCP), leg extension power, timed up and go test in seconds (s) (TUG) within 1 month (95% CI =-1.75, 0.77), within 3 months (95% CI =-0.48, 0.33), within 12 months (95% CI =-0.44, 0.35), sit to stand, number of repetitions in 30s (ST). There was no difference in the incidence of adverse events (95% CI =-0.01, 0.10). Similarly, two groups were also no obvious distinction after THA in the 6-WMT, SCP, Leg extension power, ST. PRT early after THA or TKA did not differ significantly from SR in terms of functional capacity, muscle strength recovery and incidence of adverse events. PRT is one of the options for rapid rehabilitation after joint replacement. (c) 2021 Asian Surgical Association and Taiwan Robotic Surgery Association. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

The study found that early PRT after TKA or THA did not differ significantly from standard rehabilitation in terms of functional capacity, muscle strength recovery, and incidence of adverse events.