According to a recent study published on bmj.com, physiotherapy can improve the daily lives of osteoarthritis patients who have undergone knee replacement surgery. Osteoarthritis is the most common type of disability found in oler people, so total knee replacement surgery is a routinely performed procedure. Since some patients continue to experience problems with everyday tasks shortly after surgery, researchers reviewed data to determine if short term physiotherapy is an effective solution.

The study involved over 600 patients who were reviewed for effectiveness of physiotherapy treatments accordng to improved function, quality of life, walking, range of knee joint motion, and muscle strength. The results found a small to moderate effect of functional exercise on joint motion and quality of life at three to four months after surgery. This effect, however, was not sustained at one year.

The authors believe that, despite inconclusive evidence, these results indicate that patients should be referred for a short course of physiotherapy exercise to provide short term benefits. These findings also suggest that further research would be worthwhile to reduce uncertainty. The lack of high quality research on the effectiveness of physiotherapy programs following total knee replacement is strongly highlighted by this study.

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