For the thousands of people who undergo a total knee replacement each year, a new technological approach may hold the key to a better recovery following surgery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Researchers from the Kolling Institute conducted a randomized clinical trial, investigating whether a digital technology package delivered remotely was effective in reducing pain and improving mobility after a knee replacement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Vicky Duong from the Osteoarthritis Research Team said total knee replacement surgery is an increasingly common surgery for advanced, end-stage osteoarthritis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cWe know however, that one in 10 people report dissatisfaction two years after surgery,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
In response to this trend, the team launched a clinical trial involving more than a hundred people, where they measured the impact of a combined digital program involving fortnightly health-coaching sessions, a Fitbit activity tracker and an exercise mobile app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Duong said we found this approach aided recovery, and patients had improved pain and greater mobility three months after surgery compared to those who only received usual care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cEncouragingly, this positive trend was mirrored at six and 12 months,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe also found improvements in function, activity participation and quality of life as a result of the digital program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor many people there is little post-operative care once a patient leaves rehabilitation, but our research indicates that delivering follow-up care with a combined digital package may give patients the support and encouragement they need to get back on their feet with confidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis approach could be particularly important for rural and remote communities as the program has the potential to extend access to care and improve equity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe would also like to see future studies consider patient preferences and abilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSome participants, especially those who were older were hesitant to use unfamiliar devices. Overall however, the approach was well-accepted.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
The study has been published in the prestigious JAMA Network Open journal. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2270,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"research-group-tax":[],"primary-research-area":[],"class_list":["post-2269","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/thumb_Blog_Dr-Vicky-Duong-1-_w550_h380_fcrop.webp",550,380,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/thumb_Blog_Dr-Vicky-Duong-1-_w550_h380_fcrop-150x150.webp",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/thumb_Blog_Dr-Vicky-Duong-1-_w550_h380_fcrop-300x207.webp",300,207,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/thumb_Blog_Dr-Vicky-Duong-1-_w550_h380_fcrop.webp",550,380,false],"large":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/thumb_Blog_Dr-Vicky-Duong-1-_w550_h380_fcrop.webp",550,380,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/thumb_Blog_Dr-Vicky-Duong-1-_w550_h380_fcrop.webp",550,380,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/thumb_Blog_Dr-Vicky-Duong-1-_w550_h380_fcrop.webp",550,380,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"ict-wordpress-support@sydney.edu.au","author_link":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/author\/ict-wordpress-supportsydney-edu-au\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"For the thousands of people who undergo a total knee replacement each year, a new technological approach may hold the key to a better recovery following surgery. Researchers from the Kolling Institute conducted a randomized clinical trial, investigating whether a digital technology package delivered remotely was effective in reducing pain and improving mobility after a…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/2269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/2269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5217,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/2269\/revisions\/5217"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2269"},{"taxonomy":"research-group-tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-group-tax?post=2269"},{"taxonomy":"primary-research-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/primary-research-area?post=2269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}