Efficacy of self-care foam rolling intervention on muscle function and pain conducted by postoperative patients who underwent total knee arthroplasty from the second to the third postoperative week

Background: This study aimed to investigate whether self-care foam rolling (FR) intervention, in addition to regular physical therapy, effectively improves pain, knee joint range of motion (ROM), muscle function (knee extension strength and gait speed), and balance function in patients who underwent total knee arthroplasty (TKA) during the second and third postoperative weeks. Methods: A total of 15 patients admitted to the hospital and who underwent TKA for knee osteoarthritis were enrolled. FR was performed for more than 10 min in the morning and 10 min in the afternoon each day from the second to the third postoperative week. Knee flexion and extension ROM, pain (resting and stretching position), 10 m walk speed, timed up-and-go test (TUG), one-leg stand, and maximal voluntary isometric contraction torques of knee extensors were assessed. Results: Significant improvements in knee flexion pain, knee flexion ROM, knee extension ROM, knee extension strength, 10 m walk speed, TUG, and one-leg stand were observed from the second to the third postoperative week. However, at rest, no statistically significant differences in pain were found. Conclusions: Muscle function of the knee extensors improved following the self-care FR intervention probably attributed to the adjusted pain level.