Return to work following knee arthroplasty

Do Patients Return to Work After Total Knee Arthroplasty?

“…Although TKA is one of the most commonly and increasingly performed surgical procedures in the world, there is limited information for younger, high-demand patients in regard to return to work ( Table 4). The existing published studies on return to work after TKA are limited by several factors: (1) there is a wide range in expected recovery time after knee arthroplasty in published studies ranging from 4 to 9 weeks in three US studies [9,17,18] to as high as 12 months in one study [2]; (2) the patient cohorts were small (\ 120 TKAs) [2,4,9,10]; (3) the average patient age was older than 65 years [3,13,18,19]; (4) the study included low-demand patients [3,4,13,18,19]; (5) the study was reported in the literature more than 10 years ago [4,13,19]; and (6) the study was not designed specifically to analyze return to work [3,9,19]. The purpose of this multicenter study was to determine whether young patients who were working before undergoing primary TKA are able to return to work postoperatively and to determine whether the patient's preoperative job physical demand category has an effect on ability to return to work.…”

“…In this study, we sought to determine (1) the percentage of patients who returned to work after TKA; (2) what percentage returned to their original job; (3) whether this varied based on the physical job demand category; and (4) whether there were differences between men and women in terms of the likelihood of returning to work after TKA.…”

Survivorship of UKA in the middle-aged

“…Patients with physically strenuous jobs can easily face several months of sick leave, thus risking their employment. UKA allows for an earlier return to work (11 weeks were reported) [37], and this alternative needs to be discussed with the patient. However, under no circumstances is UKA meant to replace well-indicated osteotomies for underlying deformities in this patient group.…”

Return to work after knee replacement: a qualitative study of patient experiences

“…4 8 9 There is increasing awareness that successful return to work is a crucial marker of outcome for patients after TKR. [10][11][12][13] Previous quantitative studies focusing on employment status, predictive factors and rates of return to work have identified age, employment before surgery, type of job and socioeconomic status as important determinants of successful return to work following joint replacement. 12 [14][15][16][17] While these Strengths and limitations of this study ▪ Successful return to work is increasingly recognised as an important outcome for patients following joint replacement, with social and economic implications for patients, employers and society.…”