Application value of a wearable precise rehabilitation system in treatment of elderly patients after total knee arthroplasty

Objective To explore the application value of a wearable precise rehabilitation system in treatment of elderly patients after total knee arthroplasty.

Methods A clinical prospective case-control study was adopted, and a total of 86 elderly patients with unilateral total knee arthroplasty from March 2019 to March 2021 were selected as research objects. Finally, 81 patients carried out the follow up, and they were randomly divided into control group with 40 cases and observation group with 41 cases. The control group carried out rehabilitation training according to the doctor′s instructions after discharge, while the observation group adopted the wearable precision rehabilitation system (independently developed by the research team of Southeast University, patent No.: 202120211016.2), and both groups were followed up for 6 months. The active range of motion (AROM) of affected side, knee joint function score of American Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS), average daily rehabilitation time, rehabilitation compliance rate, satisfaction degree and score of Short-form Health Survey (SF-36) were compared between the two groups at 1 month, 3 and 6 months of follow-up.

Results At the 1 month, 3 and 6 months of follow-up, the AROM and HSS scores of knee joints of the affected side in both groups were gradually increased, and the AROM and HSS scores of the observation group at of 1 month, 3 and 6 months of follow-up were significantly higher than those of the control group (P < 0.05). The daily recovery time of the observation group was (4.6±0.7) h, which was significantly longer than (2.3±0.3) h of the control group (P < 0.05); the total compliance rate and total satisfaction rate of the observation group were 90.2% and 82.9%, respectively, which were significantly higher than 72.5% and 62.5% of the control group (P < 0.05). At 6 months of follow-up, the scores of physical health, mental health and social relations as well as the total score in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P < 0.05).

Conclusion The wearable precision rehabilitation system can significantly improve the rehabilitation quality of elderly patients after knee arthroplasty, and improve the rehabilitation compliance rate and satisfaction degree.