Different musculoskeletal conditions affect people all over the world and were considered by the WHO to be the leading cause of disability in 4 out of 6 regions in 2017, with an increase in the associated burden and impact on society expected in the coming years. The knee is a complex joint, vulnerable to various types of injury. The most common are ligament, meniscus and cartilage injuries of different etiologies. After surgery, as a result of the reflex inhibition of motor neurons and immobilization, there is rapid atrophy and weakness in the different associated muscles, affecting proprioception, muscle strength and extension, clearly compromising health-related quality of life. Through partnership and collaboration between health institutions and academia, the rehabilitation program will take place on an outpatient basis in a supervised manner, allowing its effectiveness to be assessed using Patient-Reported Outcome Measures. These instruments are a rapidly developing topic and it is essential to understand whether the Patient-Reported Outcome Measures used are sufficient to measure the results perceived by patients with lower limb pathology who take part in rehabilitation programs. The different Patient-Reported Outcome Measures will be applied before and after the program.
The study design is a clinical trial with longitudinal assessment, with a convenience sample. Participants who meet the inclusion criteria are invited to take part and sign an informed consent form. All participants' data is encrypted and stored with password protection, and will be deleted once the results of the study have been published. The experimental group followed the program for 4 weeks with a treatment frequency of 5 sessions per week, performed and supervised by the same specialist physiotherapist at every session. For the statistical analysis of the data in this study, we used the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS®) 29 software.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
65
The rehabilitation program consists of 5 weekly sessions for 4 weeks, supervised by a specialized physiotherapist at every session. All patients follow the same order of treatment and exercises, starting with massage and mobilization, followed by the corresponding exercise program, and ending with Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation (NMES) and cryotherapy.
National School of Public Health
Lisbon, Portugal
Health-related quality of life
The EuroQol scale (EQ5D) makes it possible to assess quality of life in a given pathology in the general population, presented in different domains. The visual analogue scale of this questionnaire has a score of 0-100. Higher scores mean better quality of life and lower scores indicate lower quality of life.
Time frame: Before the intervention, after 4-6 weeks and 6 months.
Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale
Participants' anxiety and worries are also assessed. Mood disorders, weakness, worry, stress, and depression are common psychological repercussions for patients with lower extremity problem. This questionnaire is made up of 14 questions. It is subdivided into two subscales - Anxiety and Depression. Each subscale has a maximum score of 21 points and the score for each subscale is analyzed separately. Scores from 0 to 7 indicate unlikely anxiety or depression; scores from 8 to 11 indicate possible but questionable anxiety or depression; scores from 12 to 21 indicate probable anxiety or depression.
Time frame: Before the intervention, after 4-6 weeks and 6 months.
Behavioural Regulations in Exercise Questionnaire
Assessment of the different aspects of motivational regulation for exercise. It is a questionnaire that evaluates and represents the differences in the ways in which people's behaviour can be regulated and how these differences are experienced. It consists of 19 items with five Likert-type response options, where 0 is 'not true for me' and 4 is 'often true for me'. This instrument assesses the following constructs: amotivation, external, introjected and identified regulation and intrinsic motivation. The results can vary from 24 (lowest self-determination) to 20 (highest self-determination).
Time frame: Before the intervention, after 4-6 weeks and 6 months.
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