Variability of gait in the early postoperative period of total knee arthroplasty with different surgical technique.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to work out an objective and sensitive method for the early postoperative period following total knee arthroplasty (TKA) in which analysis of the gait parameters is possible and also to investigate the influence of different surgical approaches for TKA on the gait during stepping in the first three months of the postoperative period.

Methods: Three groups of patients: age-matched healthy elderly patients as a control group, patients operated upon by the conventional technique and finally by the minimally invasive technique combined with computer-assisted navigation. All three groups included ten patients. The motions of knee, shoulder and pelvis were measured by ZEBRIS ultrasound-based system preoperatively plus six and 12 weeks postoperatively. From the joint motion, the variability of cadence, and the variability of knee joint motion and that of pelvis and shoulder girdle was determined.

Results: Osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee joint and TKA using both operation techniques significantly influenced the variability of stepping parameters compared to the controls. In the early postoperative period a significant difference was detected between the two groups of the operated patients in all parameters.

Conclusion: Our data prove that our method seems appropriate to provide objective measurement of the gait in the early postoperative period. The variability of motion of the patient groups approaches that of the healthy control group steadily, but does not reach them.