Patients undergoing hip replacement surgery for the first time do not always need to turn to outpatient physical therapy for recovery, as a new study claims that a home exercise program that is more cost-effective can also improve movement.
For this research, the team compared the effectiveness of both forms of therapy on 77 patients who recently received a new hip by undergoing a total hip arthroplasty (THA) procedure. THA involves replacing certain parts of a hip joint with artificial parts that will help restore movement to the joint and relieve pain. Thirty-nine patients attended two-to-three sessions of physical therapy per week at an outpatient location for 10 weeks. The out-of-pocket charge per session for patients who did not have Medicare ranged from $10 to $60.
The remaining 38 patients were provided with instructions and pictures on how to perform exercises for the same time span of 10 weeks. The at-home therapy sessions, which were designed to improve movement and balance, involved gait training, muscle strengthening, stair-climbing and one-legged standing.
The researchers tested the patients' pain and stiffness, activity levels and range of movement at one-month and then again at six-months using standardized tests. They found that patients who received physical therapy at an outpatient location did not have any added benefits when compared to the patients who performed therapy exercises at home. The team noted that at-home therapy, like outpatient therapy, can be tailored to the patient's needs.
"Most patients can do physical therapy on their own after total hip replacement," Matt Austin, the study's senior author and an orthopedic surgeon at the Rothman Orthopedic Specialty Hospital, said in the press release. "This study also demonstrates how we can more optimally utilize health resources and lower costs."
The authors added that based on these findings, doctors might no longer need to prescribe outpatient physical therapy as the routine treatment option.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported in 2015 that there were 332,000 total hip replacement surgeries.
The study's findings were presented at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS) in Orlando, Fla.
