Elastic Band Exercise on the Pain, Kinesiophobia, Functional, and Psychological Status

Overview

Aiming to determine the effects of elastic band exercise on kinesiophobia, functional capacity, and depression after the total knee arthroplasty, the present study was designed and carried out as a randomized controlled trial study. The study was carried out between October 2019 and April 2020 in the Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Department of a training and research hospital.This study, the effects of elastic band exercise program on the pain, kinesiophobia, quality of life, depression, and functional capacity of TKA patients were examined. Elastic band exercise program significantly decreased the pain level, exercise fear, and depression level of patients and positively contributed to the quality of life and functional capacity.

All the participants were subjected to walking training and a standard postoperative care and exercise protocol until discharged from the hospital. During discharging, all the participants in both groups were provided with explanation and illustration about how to perform the exercises. In order to prevent any problem, the participants in both groups were recommended to start the at-home rehabilitation programs, which incorporate knee movement exercises, to be ready 2 weeks (14 days) after the surgery and they were asked to continue their current exercise programs thus far. The patients in control group were recommended to maintain only an at-home exercise program incorporating knee flexion and extension exercises. The patients in intervention group were recommended to do, in addition to the at-home exercise program given to the patients in control group, elastic band exercises and researchers showed them how to use the elastic bands by making use of instructions.The participants were asked to do exercise 4 times a day with a minimum of 2 hours interval between the sessions. The participants were instructed to avoid elastic band exercise 1 hour before or after the meals in order to prevent a physical impairment and to adopt a moderately progressive approach in order to prevent lower extremity pain after exercise and to increase the sense of success and confidence.