Quality of life of patients before and after implantation of total knee endoprostesis

INTRODUCTION: Diseases of the locomotor system or musculoskeletal disease are on the rise, mainly due to the ageing of the population but also due to lifestyle changes. Those are the main cause of chronic pain and disability in the modern world. Thanks to the achievements of modern medicine, in patients with advanced osteoarthritis of the hip or knee it is possible to replace the diseased joint with an endoprosthesis, with very good long-term results related to pain reduction and function improvement. The aim of this study is to examine are there any differences in the quality of people's life before and after implantation of total knee endoprosthesis. RESPONDENTS AND RESEARCH METHODS: There were 30 subjects of both genders with knee joint disease enrolled in the study, who were treated with the surgical course at the Orthopedics clinic and the traumatology of the UKCS by implanting a total endoprosthesis, from the beginning of April until the end of October 2018. As an instruments of this research are used standardized SF-36 questionnaire for assessing the quality of life and overall health status and a modified questionnaire on the socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents. RESULTS: Patients after implantation of total knee endoprosthesis have a better quality of life, i.e. statistical significance at physical function level (P = 0.0001), role limits due to physical problems (P = 0.0001), social functions (p = 0.0001), energy or vitality (P = 0.0001), pain (p = 0.0001), limitations of the role due to emotional problems (P = 0.0001), and emotional prosperity (P = 0.0001) and general health (P = 0.004). CONCLUSIONS: The quality of life of patients was worse before the period after the total knee endoprosthesis, where statistically significant improvement was demonstrated.