Post-operative clinical outcomes
swelling, Pain, active knee flexion and extension ROM, pain, knee arthroplasty, ’ pain
A range of subjective and objective measures were collected throughout the post-operative period. For early post-operative subjective measures, patients were provided with a study logbook to record pain (VAS) scores and medication usage over the first 2 weeks, which was subsequently collected from patients at their 2-week out-patient appointment. The VAS was used to assess patients’ pain levels, on a whole number rating scale from 0 (no pain) to 10 (worst pain). VAS was recorded at day 1, day 2, week 1 and week 2, and subsequently at the patient’s 6-week out-patient appointment. Opioid usage was recorded from in-patient medication charts and then from the patient’s logbook following hospital discharge, converted to milligram of morphine equivalents for standardisation. In-patient hospital LOS was recorded upon discharge.KOOS was assessed at 6-weeks post-surgery. Given the early timeframe that the study was focused on, only the overall KOOS score has been reported, along with subscales for Pain, Symptoms and QOL. A Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (PSQ) was also employed to evaluate the patient’s level of satisfaction with their method of cryocompression therapy and its ability to relieve their pain and improve their ability to perform daily activities. It also assessed their satisfaction in ease of use and application, perceived swelling control, sleep and mobility. A categorical tool was devised: 1 = very satisfied; 2 = somewhat satisfied; 3 = somewhat dissatisfied; 4 = very dissatisfied, with an overall score between 9 (best) to 36 (worst). These were completed at the 2-week, 6-week and 3-month post-operative time-points.Objective measurements collected in hospital were non-blinded and undertaken and recorded by the patient’s treating physiotherapist, commencing on day 1 after the bulky crepe compression bandage was removed. Ongoing knee ROM and circumference measurements were taken and recorded by a blinded research assistant at follow-up appointments in the orthopaedic surgeon’s private practice. Both active knee flexion and extension ROM were recorded using a hand-held long-arm goniometer which has shown high test–retest reliability following knee arthroplasty with an intraclass correlation (ICC) of 0.99 [Ethics approval was provided by the Hollywood Private Hospital Research Ethics Committee, approval number HPH542.