Effect of structured prehabilitation on the clinical outcomes and functional independence following total knee replacement - A quasi experimental study

STAGE 1:

Preparing and validating the prehabilitation video: After performing extensive literature search the exercises which are to be included were formulated as video starting from osteoarthritis and surgical procedure to post operative rehabilitation strategies are explained in the video with a brief pre-operative exercise program. Validation would be done by sending the video to few experts in the field of joint replacement including orthopedicians and physiotherapists and collecting the content and video clarity through a questionnaire and appropriate statistics are used.

STAGE 2:

Patient who are planned for TKR will be screened based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria and included in the study after obtaining written inform consent. Demographic data and baseline parameters knee flexion ROM, knee extension strength, TUG test, along with a self-administered questionnaire assessing their expectation, confidence and familiarity with exercises are collected.      Following this, participants viewed a content validated, 15 minute educational video that provided an overview of the surgical procedure, expected recovery timeline, pain management strategies, rehabilitation goals, addressing realistic outcomes. After the video, patients reassessed their expectations through a post-session questionnaire and the prehab exercises would be reviewed. Patients would be given routing physiotherapy care, after 6 weeks all the outcomes were reassessed. Data collected from the self administred questionnairre, along with postoperative outcomes, were analyzed using paired t-tests to determine the effectiveness of the intervention. The control group receives standard preoperative care, including verbal guidance on exercises.