A common thought among docs has been that patients who get total knee replacements will be more active with their new knees. However, a recent study reveals that the assumption isn’t exactly correct.
According to the study, patients who had total knee replacement surgery gained an average of 14 pounds over two years! The finding comes from University of Delaware (UD) researchers. Though patients in the study dropped weight in the beginning, they ended up gaining much more weight over two years than the control group of individuals who didn’t have the surgery. It seems that patients with new knees can sink back into their old, inactive habits from before surgery, when pain was more common.
Sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, the study is published in the January online edition of Osteoarthritis and Cartilage from Osteoarthritis Research Society International.
Sixty-six percent of the 106 people in the surgical group gained an average of 14 pounds over the two-year period they were followed after knee surgery. UD Researcher Joseph Zeni calls that a “significant increase in body mass index.”
UD Researcher Snyder-Mackler said, “If you’re not getting out of the house, you won’t gain the benefit. We need people with new knees to get out there — with the help of their family, their friends, and the community at large.”
Snyder-Mackler said that gaining weight after surgery isn’t a good idea if you don’t want to jeopardize the other knee. She said that between 35 to 50% of patients who had one knee surgery will have surgery on the other knee within 10 years. Snyder-Mackler also noted that since preoperative knee functioning can predict how a patient functions after surgery, it’s best not to wait too long to have surgery.
If you’ve had total knee replacement, do you think you’re more active now than before?
(Image via MorgueFile)
Post from: Blisstree