On several occasions, the Arthritis Portal has written about both knee prosthesis surgeries and other treatment options for those affected by osteoarthritis. This study included 69 people who needed to undergo a knee prosthesis surgery and who after the surgery experienced so-called chronic pain. For most people who undergo a TKA, the result is as desired, with less pain and increased mobility. However, the study reports that around 15-20% of those who undergo a knee prosthesis operation suffer from chronic pain. The definition of chronic pain in this case is that the person has experienced severe pain for at least 3-6 months after the surgery.
The study was conducted in Denmark and to be included in the study, it had to have been at least 12 months since the TKA and there could be no signs that the prosthesis was not functioning as it should.
Participants were allowed to participate in supervised neuromuscular exercise 2 times / week for 12 weeks, with 6 weeks interval between training weeks during the time the study was ongoing.
The result shows that there was no major difference between those who got to participate in both neuromuscular exercise and pain neuroscience education versus pain neuroscience education only. Both groups showed comparable results in the evaluation of pain and function in the operated knee.
The researchers believe that the result can have a major impact on the affected patients as it is a common belief that nothing can be done about the pain. In the future, there may now be several ways to try to reduce the pain and thus improve the patients’ quality of life. They also believe that it may be important to continue to look at whether there is any special patient group that benefits extra much from one or the other option in order to be able to individualize the treatment as much as possible.
Please read the study in its entirety by clicking here. JAMA network opens in a new tab.
