Abstract

Background: In 2020, the osteoarthritis will be the fourth leading cause of disability worldwide. Nowadays, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), this impairment affects 80% of the population older than 65 years. The treatment in advanced stages is the total knee arthroplasty (TKA). After surgery procedure, it is essential the early beginning of a program of physiotherapy to recover the physical and functional capacity of the patients.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to perform an 8-week physical therapy program (3 sessions per week) to recover the functionality to a patient who underwent TKA.

Methods: A case study of TKA for secondary osteoarthritis was carried out.  The variables were measured at baseline, 4, 6 and 8 weeks. This analysis was performed using percentages of change with respect to baseline assessment for the following variables: joint balance, muscle balance, circumferential data, Tinetti test, Timed Up and Go test, Flamingo test, Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36) and Barthel Index.

Results: The physical therapy program was well tolerated with an adherence rate of 100%. There were improvements in all variables, highlighting the joint balance where were obtained ranges between 46.66-120%.

Conclusions: The results obtained have been beneficial. We found important improvements in all variables assessed. It has improved quality of life, functional capacity and pain. Subsequent studies would be required to approach the patterns of miofascial pain associated with this intervention due to the results found in this study.