How Does Asymmetry Vary in Patients Undergoing Knee and Hip Arthroplasty?

Description

This presentation discusses a study evaluating walking asymmetry in patients undergoing knee and hip arthroplasty. The authors, who are employees of Zimmer Biomet, introduce the rising ownership of smartphones and wearable devices, such as smartwatches, which have integrated inertial measurement units to track physical metrics like gait speed and walking asymmetry. The study uses a smartphone-based management platform called My Mobility to collect data from patients both preoperatively and postoperatively, analyzing the walking asymmetry percentage over the year following surgery.



The study recruited 3,034 patients who were provided with Apple Watches and required to submit data before and after surgery. The results indicated significant differences in walking asymmetry, with total knee arthroplasty (TKA) patients showing more asymmetry in both preoperative and postoperative stages compared to partial knee arthroplasty (PKA) patients. At one year, TKA patients maintained higher levels of walking asymmetry than PKA patients.



Overall, the study concludes that TKA patients exhibit greater asymmetry than PKA patients both before and after surgery, although recovery over time is evidenced by a decrease in asymmetry across groups. The findings highlight the importance of monitoring gait quality in recovery from knee and hip arthroplasty using advanced technological tools.

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