Patient characteristics and outcome in three different working models of home-based rehabilitation: a longitudinal observational study in primary health care in Norway.

Background: The organisation of health care services for older adults varies within and between countries. In Norway, primary care physiotherapy services offer home-based rehabilitation to older adults. The aim of this study was to compare patients' characteristics and treatment outcomes in three working models of home-based rehabilitation.

Walking on a compliant surface does not enhance kinematic gait asymmetries after unilateral total knee arthroplasty.

Purpose: To investigate gait asymmetries and the effect of walking on compliant surfaces in individuals with unilateral total knee arthroplasty (TKA), hypothesizing that asymmetries would increase as an effect of the compliant surface.

Methods: Individuals with unilateral TKA ~19 months post-operative (n = 23, median age 59 years) recruited from one orthopaedic clinic and age- and gender-matched healthy individuals without knee complaints (n = 23, median age 56 years) walked at comfortable speed on a hard surface and on a compliant surface. 3D kinematic analyses were made for knee and hip angles in sagittal and frontal planes, stance time, step length, and gait velocity.

Postural sway in single-limb and bilateral quiet standing after unilateral total knee arthroplasty.

Aim: To investigate whether total knee arthroplasty (TKA) was associated with stability in single-limb stance and whether reduced stability in single-limb stance was associated with increased postural sway in bilateral quiet standing.

Methods: 3D kinematics for center of mass was used to assess postural sway in 23 subjects with TKA and 23 controls. Tests included bilateral quiet standing with and without vision and on a compliant surface, and single-limb stance.

Compensatory strategies for muscle weakness during stair ascent in subjects with total knee arthroplasty.

Subjects with total knee arthroplasty (TKA) exhibit decreased quadriceps and hamstring strength. This may bring about greater relative effort or compensatory strategies to reduce knee joint moments in daily activities. To study gait and map out the resource capacity, knee muscle strength was assessed by maximal voluntary concentric contractions, and whole body kinematics and root mean square (RMS) electromyography (EMG) of vastus lateralis and semitendinosus were recorded during stair ascent in 23 unilateral TKA-subjects ~19 months post-operation, and in 23 healthy controls.

Peak knee flexion angles during stair descent in TKA patients.

Reduced peak knee flexion during stair descent (PKSD) is demonstrated in subjects with total knee arthroplasty (TKA), but the underlying factors are not well studied. 3D gait patterns during stair descent, peak passive knee flexion (PPKF), quadriceps strength, pain, proprioception, demographics, and anthropometrics were assessed in 23 unilateral TKA-subjects ~19 months post-operatively, and in 23 controls. PKSD, PPKF and quadriceps strength were reduced in the TKA-side, but also in the contralateral side.