Authors (including presenting author) :
Lee CY(1), Poon CMY(1), Leung AKY(1), Louie FTM(1)
Affiliation :
(1) Occupational Therapy Department, Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital, Hong Kong
Introduction :
Painful and pruritic scar is one of the major post-operative concerns of TKR patients. It has been suggested in different studies that pressure therapy was effective in preventing and managing hypertrophic scar. Pressure knee tube has been prescribed to TKR patients for hypertrophic scar prevention and management by the Occupational Therapy department in Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole hospital. However, fair patient compliance of knee tube was noted. Patients reported different issues after the application of traditional knee tube, including easy loosening of the pressure garment during daily activities of daily living (ADLs) and outdoor instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) and this caused insignificant improvement in hypertrophic scar condition .
Objectives :
To improve the patient compliance of knee tube, a new design of knee tube was put forward.
Methodology :
Originally, the design of the knee tube was composed of a cylinder-shaped lycra garment with a relatively flat front part. To improve the compliance of knee tube, the new model of knee tube was modified to a streamline cylinder-shaped lycra garment to fit contour of the knee. The front part of the knee tube was divided into 3 vertical parts to form an arched shape to fit the front part of the knee. The measurement method was similar to the original method, except the distance from the medial epicondyle of the knee to the lateral epicondyle was additionally measured.
Result & Outcome :
Patients reported that the new design of the knee tube was more comfortable to wear and less prone to loosening during ADLs and outdoor IADLs. An improvement in the compliance of knee tube was also noted. Patients reported they wore the knee tube for a longer duration daily. Therapists also reported a reduction in workload because there were less patients in requesting the adjustment of knee tube and the increase in the workload of doing the measurement of the new knee tube was minimal. A randomized controlled study was suggested to further investigate on the improvement in the patients’ compliance of new knee tube.
