Home program of physical therapy: effect on disabilities of patients with total hip arthroplasty.

Objective: To study the effect of a home program of physical therapy.

Design: Nonrandomized control trial.

Setting: Home based.

Patients: Subjects had total hip arthroplasty (THA) for hip osteoarthritis (hip-OA) without THA failure, or cardiopulmonary, neurological, or cognitive problems. Twenty-three subjects (mean age 63.4 years; mean post-THA period 793 days, 6 to 48 months) were divided into 3 groups matching with age, gender, and postoperative periods.

Intervention: The 6-week home program included range of motion (ROM) exercises, and low resistance isometric and eccentric exercises of hip abductors. Physical therapists prescribed ROM and isometric exercises for group A, all programs for group B, and no programs for the control group. The programs were modified every 2 weeks as necessary.

Main Outcome Measure: Hip ROM, maximum isometric hip abduction torque measured by Cybex II, gait speed, and cadence were evaluated.

Results: The practice ratio of the program was about 70% for both groups. Maximum isometric torque improved in the THA side of group A (p < .01) and the control group (p < .05), and on both sides in group B (p < .01). Gait speed and cadence also improved significantly. No correlation coefficient existed between practice days and the improvement ratio of the maximum torque.

Conclusion: The home program was effective in long-term post-THA.