This study meta-analyzes the effects of telephysical therapy on pain, quadriceps muscle strength, and quality of life, range of motion, gait ability, and balance ability in domestic and international knee arthroplasty patients to provide objective inf...
This study meta-analyzes the effects of telephysical therapy on pain, quadriceps muscle strength, and quality of life, range of motion, gait ability, and balance ability in domestic and international knee arthroplasty patients to provide objective information on the effects of telephysical therapy on knee arthroplasty. This study was a randomized experimental study that tested the intervention effect of pain, quadriceps muscle strength, quality of life, range of motion, gait ability, and balance ability among the effects of telephysical therapy applied to domestic and international knee arthroplasty patients. For literature search, databases of PubMed, Springlink, Medline complete, ScienceDirect, Sage e-Journals, Cochrane, and Clinical Key were used as foreign literature search engines, and databases of DBpia, Kyobo Bookstore Scala, KISS, RISS, National Library of Korea, and ScienceON were used as domestic literature search engines. "Telerehabitation," "Telephysical therapy," "Total Knee displacement," and "Total Knee arthroplasty" were used as foreign search words, and "원격물리치료," "원격재활," and "무릎관절 전치환술" were used as domestic search words. The study selection criteria were for patients who underwent knee joint total surgery, which presented variables related to treatment intervention and measured at least one patient-centered study result (pain, quadriceps muscle strength, and quality of life). There were 0 domestic and 15 foreign studies that met the selection criteria, and a total of 15 studies were selected for the selection criteria. Review Manager 5.4 was used to calculate the effect size, and the chi-square test and Higgin's I^2 statistics were checked for statistical heterogeneity tests. In addition, funnel viscosity notation was used to analyze the sensitivity of each study and to test publication bias. The results of this study are as follows. First, the general characteristics of the selected studies in this study were 15 overseas journals, and the type of study design was a randomized comparative clinical experimental study. The total number of study participants was 1,825, with 829 in the experimental group and 996 in the control group. There were 15 studies (100%) on the effect on pain, 6 (40%) on the muscle strength of the quadriceps muscle, and 11 (73.3%) on the effect on quality of quality of life. Second, as a result of the quality evaluation of the studies selected in this study, nine studies (60%) showed "uncertain," while six studies (40%) showed "uncertain" and six studies (40%) showed "high risk of distortion." The "creation of random assignment order," "concealing the assignment order," and "the evaluator's blinding" were evaluated as "low risk of distortion." Third, the effect size of telephysical therapy on the pain of knee arthroplasty patients was -0.23, and the 95% confidence interval was -0.60 to 0.14, which was not statistically significant, including 0. The effect size of face-to-face physical therapy on pain was 0.30, and the 95% confidence interval was -0.31 to 0.90, which was not statistically significant, including 0. Fourth, the effect size of telephysical therapy on the muscle strength of the quadriceps muscle in patients with total knee joint replacement was 0.59, and the 95% confidence interval was 0.11 to 1.07, which was statistically significant because it did not include zero. The effect size of face-to-face physical therapy on muscle strength in the broad four-pronged muscle was -0.52, and the 95% confidence interval was -1.05 to 0.02, which was not statistically significant, including 0. Fifth, the effect size of telephysical therapy on the range of joint motion of knee joint replacement patients was 0.54, and the 95% confidence interval was -0.06 to 1.14, which was not statistically significant, including 0. The effect size of face-to-face physical therapy on the quality of life was -0.54, and the 95% confidence interval was -1.28 to 0.20, which was not statistically significant, including 0. Sixth, the effect size of telephysical therapy on the gait ability of knee arthroplasty patients was -0.04, and the 95% confidence interval was -0.83 to 0.75, which was not statistically significant, including 0. The effect size of face-to-face physical therapy on gait ability was 0.03, and the 95% confidence interval was -1.30 to 1.37, which was not statistically significant, including 0. Seventh, the effect size of telephysical therapy on the balance ability of knee arthroplasty patients was -0.41, and the 95% confidence interval was -1.07~0.24, which was not statistically significant, including 0. The effect size of face-to-face physical therapy on balance ability was -0.72, and the 95% confidence interval was -0.21 to 1.64, which was not statistically significant, including 0. Eighth, the effect size of telephysical therapy on the quality of life of knee arthroplasty patients was 0.52, and the 95% confidence interval was -0.07 to 1.10, which was not statistically significant, including 0. The effect size of face-to-face physical therapy on the quality of life was -0.35, and the 95% confidence interval was -0.96 to 0.26, which was not statistically significant, including 0. The research results of this study are summarized as follows. Telephysical therapy has been shown to have a positive effect on improving the quadriceps muscle strength of patients with total knee arthroplasty. The effect of telephysical therapy on pain, range of motion, gait ability, balance ability, and quality of life in patients with total knee arthroplasty was not significant. However, clinical application is insufficient, and research in Korea has not yet been actively conducted. In future studies, telephysical therapy should be applied to patients with total knee arthroplasty in Korea and various studies should be conducted to devise a single physical therapy method.