Efficacy analysis of postoperative cycle ergometer program for elderly total hip arthroplasty patients

Objective To evaluate the effect of cycle ergometer program for elderly total hip arthroplasty (THA) patients. Methods Prospective collected 150 patients underwent hip arthroplasty in the Department of Orthopaedics, Changzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, affiliated to Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine. Eighty-seven older patients who had received primary hip replacement were included in the study. Patients were divided into 2 treatment groups randomly. Conventional group performed only conventional exercises, and experimental group performed cycle ergometer and conventionalexercises. Patients were evaluated by Hip function and health-related quality of life were evaluated by Harris Hip Score and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) at 8 weeks and 4months after surgery. Results There were no serious complications in the treatment of the two groups. WOMAC score: The degree of hip stiffness was (26±20) in experimental group at postoperative 8 weeks, which was significantly improved than that in the regulartraining group (26±23), results was statistically significant (t=9.765, P<0.05). There was no significant difference in functional and pain scores. The WOMAC scores at 4months postoperatively showed that the recovery degree of the experimental group (22±18) was significantly improved compared with the regular training group (25±19), and the difference was statistically significant(t=5.434, P<0.05). Harris score at 8 weeks and 4 months of the experimental group (82±6, 88±12) was higher than the regular training group (86±6, 82±6), the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion The rehabilitation including cycle ergometer can improve elderly patients' pain and function after the THA. Key words: Bicycle exercise; Hip; Joint replacement; Rehabilitation