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Squatting as a test after TKA yields positive association with weight-bearing
Clinicians noted a positive association between good weight-bearing on an operated limb after total knee arthroplasty and squatting to 60° compared to using standing as a clinical marker, according to this study.
“On the first outpatient visit, individuals who had primary unilateral knee arthroplasty placed more body weight over the uninvolved side for the three weight-bearing positions. With high probability, the asymmetry index for both squatting angles identified perceived functional difficulty,” Mark D. Rossi, PhD, PT, CSCS, and colleagues stated in the study abstract. “As rehabilitation visits increased, there was a direct association to improved interlimb weight-bearing symmetry when squatting to 60°.”
Rossi and colleagues used the asymmetry index based on the physical function dimension of the Western Ontario McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index to distinguish between patients who had moderate difficulty with performing the squats and patients who had little or no trouble, according to the abstract.
Based on the receiver operator characteristic, patients self-reported an area of 0.64 during standing, while the area for the curve was 0.81 for 30° of squatting and 0.89 for 60°of squatting.
Disclosure: Rossi has no relevant financial disclosures.