(Reuters Health) – People who have had a knee or hip replacement reap the benefits of intense rehab months after they’ve returned home, according to a new analysis.
“If you can get patients to a certain threshold level, they can do the rest of the rehabilitation on their own,” coauthor Kenneth Ottenbacher told Reuters Health.
“In a sense, these patients become their own physical therapists,” he said.
Ottenbacher directs the Center for Rehabilitation Sciences at The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.
He and his team analyzed data from 12,199 U.S. patients who underwent knee or hip replacement between 2008 and 2010. They were all living independently before surgery and were treated at inpatient rehab facilities after the procedure.