No effect of continuous passive motion after arthroplasty of the knee

Abstract

We randomly allocated 54 patients to active physical therapy only or this combined with 2 hours of passive knee motion twice daily from 2–12 days after total knee arthroplasty. The range of knee motion was measured on the 14th postoperative day. We found no difference between the groups. We concluded that 4 hours' passive motion daily in addition to early, active physical therapy does not improve the range of knee motion or promote mobilization after arthroplasty.