The Efficiency of the PNF Method

Background: Early rehabilitation following knee arthroplasty is an integral part of medical management which reduces the time of patient's stay at hospital and eliminates the risk of post-operative complications. The absence of consensus on the most efficient post-operative rehabilitation strategy and shortage of practices based on evidence lead to seek new therapeutic solutions. Therefore the goal of this study is to evaluate the efficiency of the PNF method in assessing functional performance in early stage patients following knee arthroplasty Material and methods: The study was conducted among 96 patients (66,34 years ±7,29) who were qualified to total knee arthroplasty. The patients were randomly divided into two groups. In the control group standard rehabilitation protocol was implemented while post-operative treatment in the study group based on PNF method. All the patients were tested on the day of admission to the hospital and after completing a 10-day rehabilitation program. Structural and functional parameters of the operated knee (muscle strength, range of motion, circuit measurements) as well as functional abilities (Staffelstein Score, Lequesne Index) were evaluated. Key words: gonarthrosis, knee replacement, osteoarthritis, PNF method