A Rapid Recovery Program After Total Knee Arthroplasty

Postoperative care after total knee arthroplasty has focused on decreasing patients' length of stay and increasing function at discharge. The purpose of this study was to determine whether implementing Rapid Recovery in total knee arthroplasty patients has an effect on length of stay and early postoperative pain and function. A retrospective review was conducted for surgeries between January 2005 and August 2006 (traditional; n = 62) and September 2006 and December 2007 (Rapid Recovery; n = 54). Patients treated with Rapid Recovery are able to ambulate farther (P = 0.01), have decreased length of stay (P = 0.01), are discharged directly home at an increased frequency (P = 0.01), and have greater Knee Society function scores at 4 weeks postoperatively (P = 0.01).