The use of rehabilitation services to influence outcome is perhaps the most understudied aspect of the perioperative management of patients with TKA.
Costs associated with TKA are high and recent efforts have been made to minimize postoperative interventions. The average hospital stay has decreased substantially with an average length of stay of 4 days.
The potential benefit of outpatient physical therapy for patients after TKA has recently been contested in the literature.
Some investigators have suggested that an intensive and prolonged rehabilitation intervention would accelerate recovery and improve overall functional outcome,
while other literature has questioned the efficacy of outpatient therapy after TKA.