Recovery of Gait After Short-Stay Total Hip Arthroplasty

• Published in: Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation Vol. 88; no. 3; pp. 361 - 367
• Main Authors: van den Akker-Scheek, Inge, MSc, Stevens, Martin, PhD, Bulstra, Sjoerd K., PhD, MD, Groothoff, Johan W., PhD, van Horn, Jim R., PhD, MD, Zijlstra, Wiebren, PhD
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 01-03-2007; Elsevier
• Subjects: Arthroplasty, replacement, hip; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip - rehabilitation; Biological and medical sciences; Cognition - physiology; Cohort Studies; Female; Gait; Gait - physiology; Humans; Length of Stay; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Miscellaneous; Orthopedic surgery; Physical Endurance - physiology; Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation; Radiotherapy. Instrumental treatment. Physiotherapy. Reeducation. Rehabilitation, orthophony, crenotherapy. Diet therapy and various other treatments (general aspects); Recovery of Function - physiology; Rehabilitation; Surgery (general aspects). Transplantations, organ and tissue grafts. Graft diseases; Walking - physiology; Gait; Arthroplasty, replacement, hip; Rehabilitation; Human; Speed; Prognosis; Variability; Duration; Arthroplasty; Recovery; Hip; Walking; Hip prosthesis; Improvement; Orthopedic surgery; Reeducation; Treatment; hip; Gait; Rehabilitation; Cohort study; Unilateral; Endurance; Ambulatory; Hospital; replacement
• ISSN: 0003-9993; 1532-821X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apmr.2006.11.026

Abstract van den Akker-Scheek I, Stevens M, Bulstra SK, Groothoff JW, van Horn JR, Zijlstra W. Recovery of gait after short-stay total hip arthroplasty. Objective To describe recovery of gait after total hip arthroplasty (THA) based on the assessment of spatiotemporal gait parameters determined with an ambulatory system. Design A 6-month inception cohort study. Setting Inpatient and outpatient setting in an academic hospital. Participants Sixty-three patients participating in a short-stay program for THA. Intervention Primary unilateral THA. Main Outcome Measures Walking speed, step length, step duration, and variability coefficient assessed at different walking speeds while performing an additional cognitive task and an endurance test. All measures were obtained preoperatively and 6 weeks and 6 months postoperatively. Results Patients improved significantly over time; however, extent and speed of recovery of gait parameters differed for each test part. The relation between walking speed and step length showed systematic improvement when analyzed over a range of speeds. At 6 months, the variability coefficient of the additional task test part was comparable with the preferred walking variability coefficient. The endurance test results could be predicted from the results of preferred walking. Conclusions Assessment of recovery of gait function requires more than only assessment of “normal” walking. Particularly, an analysis of walking at different speeds and walking while performing an additional cognitive task demonstrate different aspects of gait recovery after THA.