Gait Analysis after Total Knee Arthroplasty - Comparison of Cemented Type and Cementless Type -

The purpose of this study was to investigate the difference between the effects of cementless and cemented total knee arthroplasty (TKA) through gait analysis. The subjects were 23 patients with osteoarthritis of the knees who were operated on with cementless TKA (average age 72.1 ± 5.0) and 25 patients with the same complaint who were operated on with cemented TKA (average age 70.7 ± 4.9). Physical therapy after surgery was the same except that in the case of cemented TKA, full weight bearing started 2 weeks earlier than for cementless TKA. Four force-plates were used to examine the knee function during customary gait. The differences before and 3 months after the operation were examined for the 2 groups and evaluated for velocity, averaged vertical component of floor reaction force (for both knees) with normalization for weight, and ratio of single support (single support time/gait cycle time) (for both knees). There was a significant difference in the ratio of single support on the non-operated side (p<0.05). This was -3% in the case of cementless and 1% for cemented. The result was that the non-operated sides in the cementless cases were weaker than in the cemented cases. The 2 groups exhibited no significant differences on the operated side.