Are patients with knee osteoarthritis and patients with knee joint replacement as physically active as healthy persons?

Abstract

BackgroundIt is well documented that patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA) suffer from reduced physical function and that function of the affected knee is improved after knee joint replacement (KJR). However, it remains uncertain whether patients with KOA are less physically active than healthy people and whether patients increase their level of physical activity after surgery to a level comparable with that of healthy people. The aim of this study was to examine whether patients with KOA are less physically active than healthy participants and whether patients who have undergone KJR show an increased activity and achieve the same level of physical activity as healthy participants 5 years postoperatively.MethodsFifty-four patients with KOA (29 women; mean age 62 ± 8.6; mean body mass index (BMI) 27 ± 5), 52 patients who had KJR due to KOA 5 years earlier (26 women; mean age 66 ± 7.2; mean BMI 30 ± 5) and 171 healthy participants (76 women, mean age 64 ± 9.7, mean BMI 26 ± 5) were included in this cross-sectional study. The level of physical activity was measured over a mean period of 5.5 days with a triaxial accelerometer mounted on the thigh. Number of daily steps, number of daily short walking bouts of <10 s duration and number of daily transfers from sitting to standing position were recorded. Data were analysed using two sample t tests and were adjusted for age, gender and BMI.ResultsPatients with KOA did not differ significantly from healthy participants regarding daily steps (+321, p = 0.50) or daily transfers from sitting to standing (+1.9, p = 0.52) but performed significantly less daily short walking bouts <10 s (−11.9, p = 0.02). Patients after KJR did not differ significantly from healthy participants regarding daily steps (−281, p = 0.60) of transfers from sitting to standing position (−3.2, p = 0.32) but performed significantly less daily short walking bouts <10 s (−21.7, p = 0.001).ConclusionPatients with KOA and KJR showed no significant reduction in number of daily step counts and transfers from sitting to standing position when compared with matched healthy controls. However, the number of short walking bouts was reduced in patients with KOA and by twice as much in patients with KJR. This indicates that KOA and treatment with KJR hardly affect health-related general activity but do affect specific physical activity behaviour potentially indicative of KOA or post-KJR functional limitations.The translational potential of this articleActivity monitoring with an accelerometer-based method gives insights into health-related general activity levels such as total daily steps and specific parameters such as short walking bouts, which may serve as an objective outcome measure in clinical practice.

BMSCs‐Derived Exosomes Ameliorate Pain Via Abrogation of Aberrant Nerve Invasion in Subchondral Bone in Lumbar Facet Joint Osteoarthritis

“…Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of joint disease and the leading cause of physical disability. 1,2 Increased prevalence of OA brings an enormous societal burden along with the aging population. 3 Therefore, a comprehensive understanding of the pathogenesis is conducive to develop an effective therapy for OA treatment.…”

Current clinical utilisation of wearable motion sensors for the assessment of outcome following knee arthroplasty: a scoping review

“…Physical activity studies were consistent in the number of sensors implemented, with 21 studies (81%) using a single sensor for activity measurements 35–40 42 43 45–57. As technology and availability of wearable accelerometers has progressed, the type of sensor used has also changed.…”

“…Twenty-six studies were identified as primarily focusing on physical activity following knee arthroplasty (tables 4 and 5), including a total of 1490 patients (58% women). Five of those studies included comparisons with a total of 620 end-stage OA patients without a knee replacement,35–38 though 458 of those patients came from a single report 37. Three studies compared physical activity levels of knee replacement patients with a total of 272 healthy controls 35 39 40.…”

“…Five of those studies included comparisons with a total of 620 end-stage OA patients without a knee replacement,35–38 though 458 of those patients came from a single report 37. Three studies compared physical activity levels of knee replacement patients with a total of 272 healthy controls 35 39 40. Four studies also included physical activity from measures from total hip replacement patients for comparison with knee patients 41–44…”

Quality, but not quantity of physical activity is associated with metal ion concentrations in unilateral hip resurfacing

“…The AM method used was found to work reliably in identifying activities in a semi‐free setting compared to human observers, with a classification accuracy of more than 97% 21,22 . In addition, activity monitoring following this or similar protocols has shown its value for research and outcome assessment in current literature 23,24 …”