How Long Is the Appropriate Length of Hospital Stay Following Total Knee Arthroplasty in Japan

IntroductionLength of hospital stay in Japan is 20 to 30 days, which is much longer than United States. Reasons of such differences are utilization of a national insurance system in Japan, and more than 90 % of patients are discharged to home. The purpose of the current study was to investigate inpatient recovery process during relaxed standing, and to clarify the appropriate length of hospital stay following TKA.MethodsThirty patients (25 Females and 5 Males) with knee osteoarthritis, 67 to 84 years old (mean 75), participated. All the subjects provided informed consent and the study was approved by our institution. The subjects were asked to step on the two scales and perform relaxed standing, placing each foot on each scale independently. Evaluations were divided into two categories; subjective and objective components. Subjective component was based on pain level, and objective component consisted of vertical knee force and knee flexion angle during relaxed standing. Namely, subjective pain level on T...