For years, workout videos have been a great way to get people on their feet to exercise. Now, a similar type of video can help some people get back on their feet. A new study presented at the 74th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons has found that use of a music-exercise video in rehabilitating total knee replacement patients results in significantly better recovery from the surgery.

“The video works in part because the patients have more fun doing the exercises,” says Thomas G. Ryan, MD, assistant clinical professor at Michigan State University Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies and an orthopedic surgeon at Kalamazoo Orthopaedic Clinic. “When the program is fun and motivating, patients are more likely to actually do it.”

More than 300,000 total knee replacements are performed in the U.S. each year. Total knee replacement is a surgical procedure in which the patient’s natural knee joint is replaced with an artificial one, composed of metal and plastic. The most common reasons for this surgery are severe pain, swelling, and/or stiffness in the knee that cannot be satisfactorily treated with medications or other therapies. Patients might have one or both knees replaced.

Following surgery, patients must perform a series of exercises several times a day. These exercises are designed to restore movement and strengthen the knee. Performing these exercises as instructed is vital to a patient’s successful rehabilitation.

To aid patients in performing their exercises each day, Ryan and his partners, Blake L. Ohlson, MD, and Ryan L. Adams, MPT, developed a video similar to a workout video, with an instructor demonstrating the movements and giving occasional reminders intended to help viewers do the exercises correctly and avoid injury. As part of their study, a group of 45 patients were divided into two random groups, so that about half were using the video and the rest were performing the exercises on their own as most post-operative patients do.

They found that patients who used the video were able to return to their usual daily activities an average of 59 percent faster than those that did not. Objective measurements of knee status and overall function at six and eight weeks were significantly better for those using the video. In addition, 100 percent of the video patients says that if they needed knee surgery in the future, they would choose to use the video as part of their rehabilitation program.

On the whole, the use of the video resulted in significant improvements in patients’ understanding of the exercise program, confidence that they were performing the exercises correctly, and overall satisfaction with the rehabilitation program when compared with patients that did not use the video.

“Patients were following the instructor on the video and listening to the music instead of concentrating on how much longer they have to work, so it felt easier to do the exercises,” Ryan says. “When patients came in for appointments, they had big smiles on their faces because they were doing so well. Many says they had exceeded their own expectations for their recovery.”

All of these improvements were achieved at a substantial cost savings, due primarily to a decreased need for additional therapy during the initial eight-week period that averaged $2,300 per patient. Based on the number of total knee replacements performed, this could mean a savings of $1.04 billion in the United States each year, while achieving improved results for patients.

Source: AAOS