The aim of this study was to assess the current available evidence
about when patients might resume driving after elective, primary
total hip (THA) or total knee arthroplasty (TKA) undertaken for
osteoarthritis (OA). In February 2016, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane,
PubMed Publisher, CINAHL, EBSCO and Google Scholar were searched
for clinical studies reporting on ‘THA’, ‘TKA’, ‘car driving’, ‘reaction
time’ and ‘brake response time’. Two researchers (CAV and JJT) independently
screened the titles and abstracts for eligibility and assessed the
risk of bias. Both fixed and random effects were used to pool data
and calculate mean differences (MD) and 95% confidence intervals
(CI) between pre- and post-operative total brake response time (TBRT).Aims
Materials and Methods
In order to prevent dislocation of the hip after total hip arthroplasty
(THA), patients have to adhere to precautions in the early post-operative
period. The hypothesis of this study was that a protocol with minimal
precautions after primary THA using the posterolateral approach
would not increase the short-term (less than three months) risk
of dislocation. We prospectively monitored a group of unselected patients undergoing
primary THA managed with standard precautions (n = 109, median age
68.9 years; interquartile range (IQR) 61.2 to 77.3) and a group
who were managed with fewer precautions (n = 108, median age 67.2
years; IQR 59.8 to 73.2). There were no significant differences between
the groups in relation to predisposing risk factors. The diameter
of the femoral head ranged from 28 mm to 36 mm; meticulous soft-tissue
repair was undertaken in all patients. The medical records were
reviewed and all patients were contacted three months post-operatively
to confirm whether they had experienced a dislocation. Aims
Patients and Methods
