Visual feedback in orthopaedic rehabilitation

  • Lindsay Millar

Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis

Abstract

Currently, functional outcome following total knee arthroplasty (TKA) surgery is often not restored, with the majority of TKA patients exhibiting lower functional outcome scores than healthy counterparts. There is some controversy regarding the nature of rehabilitation delivery following TKA surgery which could contribute to sub-optimal outcomes. Visual feedback has had a positive effect in other patient populations, such as stroke survivors, and therefore may also improve the efficacy of TKA rehabilitation. Currently, the most effective way to deliver visual feedback is with motion analysis technology. However, current protocols are not suitable for routine clinical use as they are time consuming and complex. Therefore, the aims of this study were to develop a motion analysis protocol tailored for routine clinical use, use the protocol to implement real-time visual feedback to TKA patients and test the effectiveness of the feedback on patients' functional outcome. A cluster based protocol was developed (Strathclyde Cluster Model; SCM) and compared to the current clinical gold standard (Vicon Plug in Gait; PiG) in terms of kinematic output and inter/intra-assessor reliability. SCM was used to implement 3 visual feedback scenarios during TKA rehabilitation. To test the effectiveness of visual feedback, functional outcome was compared for a group of patients who received feedback and a group of controls. Further, the acceptability and reliability of SCM was tested with clinicians who had no prior experience in motion analysis. Results demonstrated that SCM was generally as reliable and accurate as PiG. Further, visual feedback does appear to have a positive effect on TKA patients and when tested with clinicians who were inexperienced in motion analysis, SCM was generally acceptable and reliable. In conclusion, SCM is an appropriate protocol for routine clinical use to deliver visual feedback during TKA rehabilitation and visual feedback has a positive effect on outcome for TKA patients.
Date of Award12 Dec 2016
Original languageEnglish
Awarding Institution
  • University Of Strathclyde
SponsorsUniversity of Strathclyde

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