Biomechanical and clinical assessments of activities of daily living following unicompartmental knee arthroplasty: A scoping review.

Abstract

Unicompartmental knee arthroplasty is an effective treatment for isolated medial or lateral knee osteoarthritis. Evaluating knee joint loading during activities of daily living postoperatively can offer valuable insights about the compensatory mechanisms in unicompartmental knee arthroplasty patients. The aim of this scoping review was to summarize and to synthesize the existing literature on the most performed activities of daily living and their associated biomechanical outcomes following unicompartmental knee arthroplasty. Five databases, including Medline, Embase, CINAHL, Web of Science, and Ergonomics Abstracts were searched based on 3 main concepts: unicompartmental knee arthroplasty, activities of daily living and biomechanical outcomes. Studies were screened based on titles and abstracts, followed by a full text reading conducted by two authors following inclusion and exclusion criteria. This scoping review included 17 studies that met the inclusion criteria and focusing on activities of daily living. These activities were categorized into three main subgroups 1) Stair negotiation, 2) Higher degree of knee flexion activities (including squat, lunge and sit-to-stand) and 3) other activities of daily living (including balance, incline and decline walking). Stair negotiation was the most evaluated task followed by squatting with a main focus on reporting knee joint kinematics and kinetics. The majority of studies did not report the use of Patient Reported Outcome Measures combined with motion analysis outcomes. Furthermore, most studies focused primarily on medial knee arthroplasty with a fixed-bearing design in short-term follow-up which warrants caution when generalizing these findings to all types of unicompartmental knee arthroplasty.