Abstract
Unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) has increased in popularity in the last years,
also in younger and more active patients with great expectancies. The purpose of our
study was to investigate the change in sports activities before and after medial UKA.
We surveyed 53 athletic patients; all underwent cemented medial UKA, to determine
not only their subjective and objective evaluation of clinical status with Hospital
for Special Surgery (HSS) and visual analog score (VAS) score, but also their sporting
and recreational activities at a mean follow-up of 48 ± 6 months (range, 18–56 months).
At the last follow-up, 48 of 53 patients were engaged in sports and recreational disciplines,
resulting in a return to activity rate of 90%. No early failure and no cases of revision
were reported. The frequency of activities (sessions per week) and the time session
remained constant at the time of survey. The most common activities after surgery
were hiking, cycling, and swimming. Several high-impact activities, as well as skiing
and football, had a significant decrease in participating patients. There were no
gender-, age- and body mass index (BMI)-related differences. UKA can be considered
a viable alternative in relatively young patients with high functional requirements
and the correct indications, however, warning the patients about the risks of polyethylene
wear and early loosening of the prosthetic components as a result of the resumption
of sporting activities in high impact.
Level of Evidence Prospective case series, level 4.
Keywords
medial UKA - physical activity - unicompartmental knee arthroplasty - sport
