Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation (NMES) for Improving Outcomes Following Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA)
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT03044028. Field values are reproduced from the official study page; the official ClinicalTrials.gov record remains the source of truth for eligibility, enrollment, and contact information.
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Official title
Prospective Evaluation of Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation (NMES) for Improving Outcomes Following Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA)
Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
The current standard for rehabilitation after TKA consists of guided exercise therapy for up to 12 weeks after surgery. This includes inpatient, home, and outpatient therapy. The surgery and rehabilitation are highly successful at reducing or eliminating pain experienced preoperatively. However, quadriceps femoris muscle (QFM) strength, overall function, and knee range of motion are often worse than preoperative levels for as long as 6 months after surgery and in some cases may persist for many years after that. Such quadriceps strength impairments after TKA have been largely attributed to voluntary activation deficits and can lead to a decrease in functional performance such as decreased gait speed, decreased balance which can lead to falls, and decreased stair climbing \& chair rise abilities. Since therapy alone does not adequately restore or improve upon the preoperative functional capabilities in a consistent and timely manner, it has been suggested that NMES used adjunctively with postoperative rehabilitation will alleviate the quadriceps muscle activation deficits. Early NMES use after TKA has been shown to: reduce knee extensor lag, increase walking speed, and improve QFM strength, knee range of motion, and function. However, NMES initiated one month after TKA did not lead to improved QFM strength or function beyond the standard benefits gained from exercise alone, thus suggesting that the timing of NMES application after TKA is important. It has previously been shown that preoperative QFM strength is predictive of postoperative function \[6\] but the benefit of prehabilitation remains in question. To date, there has only been one pilot study assessing the benefits of NMES when initiated preoperatively. This study only included 14 patients (9 NMES, 5 control) but was able to show that preoperative NMES usage may lead to greater QFM strength gains after TKA. Therefore, it will be important to assess the benefits of NMES both preoperatively and postoperatively in order to determine how it will be most beneficial to TKA patients.
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT03044028
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Not applicable
- Enrollment
- 66 participants
Conditions and interventions
Conditions
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- 18 Years to 85 Years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Healthy volunteers not accepted
This page does not interpret eligibility. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria are on the official ClinicalTrials.gov record.
Study timeline
- Start date
- Dec 31, 2016
- Primary completion
- May 31, 2018
- Completion
- Jul 31, 2018
- Last update posted
- Mar 4, 2020
2017 – 2018
United States locations
- U.S. sites
- 1
- U.S. states
- 1
- U.S. cities
- 1
| Facility | City | State | ZIP | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cleveland Clinic | Cleveland | Ohio | 44195 | — |
Site contact phone numbers, emails, and investigator names are intentionally not displayed here. Open the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for site contact information.
About this trial record page
- What this page shows
- Public field values for ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT03044028, including study identification, conditions, interventions, eligibility (age, sex, healthy volunteer), timeline, and U.S. site list.
- What this page does not do
- No medical advice, eligibility judgments, treatment recommendations, study quality scoring, or AI-generated medical summaries. No site contact phone numbers, emails, or investigator names.
- Where the data comes from
- Sourced from the official ClinicalTrials.gov public API. The official record is the source of truth.
- Last refresh
- Last update posted Mar 4, 2020 · Synced Sep 5, 2026
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Open the official record
The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT03044028 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.