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AAOS: Participation in Sports Safe After Total Knee Arthroplasty

Only 3 patients in sports cohort had further operative intervention; no component revisions performed

TUESDAY, March 6, 2018 (HealthDay News) — Participation in sports, including sports with high activity scores, seems safe after total knee arthroplasty (TKA), according to research presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, held from March 6 to 10 in New Orleans.

Samuel Joseph, M.D., an orthopedic surgery specialist in Tampa, Fla., and colleagues performed a retrospective review of TKA patients according to participation in sport. Three hundred fifty-five patients with 494 TKAs continued to participate in sport (University of California Los Angeles [UCLA] activity scores > 7). One hundred three of these patients participated in sports with UCLA activity scores at level 9 and 10, such as competitive downhill skiing, karate, competitive tennis, and dancing. Patients were followed for five to 15 years, with mean follow-up of 8.7 years for patients participating in sports.

The researchers found that survival was 100 percent for patients pursuing sports and 97.7 percent for non-sporting patients. Three patients in the sports cohort underwent further operative interventions; no component revisions were performed. Three revisions were performed for aseptic loosening in the cohort of patients who did not participate in regular sports.

“Participation in sports following implantation of a mobile bearing TKA implant has no significant impact on implant survivorship with 5 to 15 years of follow up,” the authors write. “In conclusion our mid-term results suggest it is safe for patients to continue high impact sports following TKA.”

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