Recovery from hip and knee arthroplasty: Patients' perspective on pain, function, quality of life, and well-being up to 6 months postoperatively

Objective: To provide a more detailed description from patients' perspectiv es than is yet available of recovery from hip and knee arthroplasty and to use this information to test 2 assumptions about recovery from these proced ures: that recovery from knee arthroplasty, as assessed by patients, routin ely reaches the level achieved by hip arthroplasty; and that fatigue is pro longed after major orthopedic surgery. Design: A cohort study. Setting: University teaching hospitals. Participants: Consecutive patients undergoing hip (n = 107) or knee (n = 53 ) arthroplasty. Interventions: Unilateral hip or knee arthroplasty. Main Outcome Measures: Standardized self-rated measurements of pain, functi on, quality of life, and well-being from preoperatively to 6 months follow- up. Results: Pain and function improved significantly less after knee arthropla sty than after hip arthroplasty, but the 2 procedures led to similar improv ements in life evaluation, mood, and subjective health. Fatigue was only tr ansiently increased. Conclusion: The findings were inconsistent with both assumptions. Neverthel ess, despite poorer recovery in pain and function, patients receiving knee arthroplasty felt that life had improved as much as did patients with hip a rthroplasty. Detailed information about how major joint arthroplasty in rou tine practice affects patients' lives can be used to advise patients and cl inicians and can invalidate influential, but inaccurate, assumptions.