Slider Board Therapy & Total Knee Arthroplasty

Debilitating knee problems have a profound affect upon quality of life. Pain, loss of strength, limited ability to walk or climb stairs and an escalating decline in normal functioning contribute to the increasing number of knee surgeries performed each year. Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) alleviates suffering with the surgical insertion of a prosthetic replacement for your deteriorating knee joint. A post-operative regimen of exercise, often utilizing devices like the slider board, enhances the rehabilitation process.

Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA)

• Total knee arthroplasty alleviates the pain and stiffness of a knee joint severely deteriorated by a degenerative bone disease such as osteoarthritis or seriously damaged as the result of an injury. This surgical procedure involves inserting an artificial joint (prosthesis) made of metal and polyethylene into the knee to replace the damaged areas. The prosthesis attaches to the ends of the femur and the tibia. In addition to pain relief, a TKA offers you increased range of motion, improved quality of life and the ability to resume routine daily activities according to University of Washington Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine.

Exercise

• Exercise quickens the healing process. According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, some patients begin exercising in the recovery room because it helps to mitigate postoperative pain and to facilitate recovery. Exercise also aids in the stabilization and control of your new knee joint according to Orthopod. Slider board therapy sometimes serves as an adjunct to the standardized exercise regimen routinely implemented following TKA.

Slider Board Therapy

• The slider board, developed in the 1990s by physical therapists and an engineer, consists of a heel-cup attached to a board according to the Journal of the American Physical Therapy Association. If your postoperative exercise regimen includes the use of a slider board, a physical therapist or your nurse helps you to rest your heel in the movable cup, then by flexing and extending the muscles in your lower leg, exercising your new knee joint requires a minimal amount of strain and effort. A slider board offers assistance in achieving the required mobilization necessary to facilitate your recovery and shorten your hospital stay.

Effectiveness of the Slider Board

• A study reported in the Journal of the American Physical Therapy Association compared different exercise methods used to assist with early mobilization of patients following total knee arthroplasty. The participants in the study included 120 patients divided into three groups of 40.

  On the second day following their surgeries, one group of study participants began slider board therapy. At the same time, a second group began exercises utilizing a continuous passive motion machine. The third day following surgery, standardized exercises began for the third group of study participants and were also included in the exercise regimen for the slider board group and the continuous passive motion group.

  Follow up measurements of pain, function and stiffness taken at the time of discharge and repeated at three months and six months after surgery revealed no perceivable difference in the outcome between patients using adjunctive therapy in addition to standardized exercises or those treated with standardized exercise therapy alone.

Conclusion

• This study "was the first randomized controlled trial..." to compare the benefits achieved with adjunctive exercise modalities and standardized exercise according to the Journal of the American Physical Therapy Association. Although future studies may provide contradictory results, for the present time, standardized exercise continues to provide the maximum benefits following total knee arthroplasty.