Effects of Knee Exercise Teaching Media on Knee Exercise Skills Among Patients Undergoing Total Knee Arthroplasty

Abstract

This quasi-experimental study compared the effect of exercise teaching media (VCD) with the routine procedure of total knee replacement (TKA) care map preoperative package on knee exercise skills in patients undergoing TKA admitted in Songklanagarind Hospital. Forty subjects were assigned to experimental (n = 20) and control (n = 20) groups. Subjects in the experimental group were taught to do exercise via the exercise teaching media (VCD) with the routine TKA care map one day prior the operation and one day prior the discharge date; whereas subjects in the control group received only the routine TKA care map. Exercise skills were examined by the questionnaire developed by the researchers yielding a test-retest coefficient of 0.80.

The results showed that exercise skills in the experimental group were higher than those in the control group both in one day prior the operation date(t ₍₄₈₎ = 4.46, p = 0.00) and one day prior the discharge date (t₍₄₈₎ = 3.48, p = 0.01). These results indicate that adding exercise teaching media VCD with the routine procedure of TKA care map increase exercise skills in patients post total knee arthroplasty. Therefore, nurses should apply this exercise teaching media to patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty in order to promote muscle strength, prevent joint stiffness, and increase activity of daily living in this group of patients.