Virtual physical therapy rehab vs traditional care after TKA

Editor's Note

A virtual system for in-home physical therapy (PT) provided similar patient outcomes after total knee arthroplasty (TKA), with lower costs than traditional in-person PT, finds this study.

A total of 306 TKA patients were randomly assigned to have traditional PT, either at home or at clinic visits, or virtual PT with use of a virtual telehealth system (ie, Virtual Exercise Rehabilitation Assistant).

In the 12 weeks after TKA, median total costs were $1,050 for the virtual PT group and $2,805 in the traditional PT group.

Patients using the virtual system did PT an average of 5.9 days a week, compared with 3.3 days in the traditional group. Fully 88% of virtual PT patients said they completed all assigned exercises, compared with 65% of the traditional group.

After 12 weeks of rehabilitation, knee function, walking speed, and other functional outcomes were similar for both groups. More virtual PT patients returned to recreation, leisure, or other physical activities and had fewer readmissions. The risk of falls was higher for the virtual PT group (19.4% vs 14.65).

These findings suggest that virtual PT should be considered for patients after TKA, the researchers say.