Abstract
Objective To reduce the pain of quadriceps during knee flexion after total knee arthroplasty and increase range motion of knee flexion. Design Three-month prospective before/after quality improvement project. Setting. Department of Bone and Joint Surgery. Participants. A total of 80 patients who met the surgical indications were admitted to the outpatient department for surgery. They were randomly grouped by computer in advance, and the patients were divided into two groups according to the time of admission, each with 40 cases. Intervention. The intervention group performed routine rehabilitation exercises and received quadriceps acupoint massages for 20 minutes twice a day for two consecutive weeks. The control group performed routine rehabilitation exercises, such as gentle quadriceps massage for 20 minutes twice a day for two consecutive weeks. Main Outcome Measures. PPT (pressure pain threshold) of quadriceps femoris/VAS (visual analog scale) of knee flexion and motion of knee flexion. Results The VAS score, range of motion, and tenderness threshold during flexion were significantly better in the intervention group than in the control group at 1, 2, and 4 weeks after surgery. But the VAS score, range of motion, and tenderness threshold did not significantly differ between groups at 12 weeks after surgery. Conclusion Acupoint massage of the quadriceps femoris can relieve early flexion pain in patients after total knee arthroplasty. The trial was registered at clinical trials.gov.
Highlights
With the aging of the global population, an increasing number of patients have developed knee arthritis
Selfmassage by patients can improve the range of flexion motion of the knee joint [11]. ere are some studies that used ai massage or Swiss massage to treat patients with knee arthritis and showed that these types of massage are helpful for mobility and pain during knee flexion [12]
Traditional Chinese acupoint massage has been used for thousands of years in China. e meridians corresponding to the characteristics of the disease are located, and the appropriate acupoints on the meridians are manipulated
Summary
With the aging of the global population, an increasing number of patients have developed knee arthritis. Knee replacement surgery is considered to be the best treatment for end-stage knee arthritis. Ere are still many patients with early postoperative flexion pain that causes joint stiffness. Kim et al once used the French endermologie method to massage the quadriceps of patients after knee replacement and found that can relieve pain [10]. Ere are some studies that used ai massage or Swiss massage to treat patients with knee arthritis and showed that these types of massage are helpful for mobility and pain during knee flexion [12]. Traditional Chinese acupoint massage has been used for thousands of years in China. The Ashi points, Yanglingquan points, and Zusanli points are considered to be the key points for Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine postoperative pain relief and muscle relaxation in patients who have undergone knee joint replacement [13–15]
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