The estimates for risk of manipulation and adverse events are very imprecise and the estimate for the risk of adverse events does not distinguish between a clinical ly important increase and decrease in risk .
There was insufficient evidence to determine the effect of CPM on participants ' global assessment of treatment effectiveness .
CPM does not have clinical ly important effects on active knee flexion ROM , pain , function or quality of life to justify its routine use .
BACKGROUND Arthritis of the knee is a common problem causing pain and disability .
If severe , knee arthritis can be surgically managed with a total knee arthroplasty .
Rehabilitation following knee arthroplasty often includes continuous passive motion ( CPM ) .
CPM is applied by a machine that passively and repeatedly moves the knee through a specified range of motion ( ROM ) .
It is believed that CPM increases recovery of knee ROM and has other therapeutic benefits .
However , it is not clear whether CPM is effective .
OBJECTIVES To assess the benefits and harms of CPM and st and ard postoperative care versus similar postoperative care , with or without additional knee exercises , in people with knee arthroplasty .
This review is an up date of a 2003 and 2010 version of the same review .
Continuous Passive Motion After Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Prospective Study
Objective Continuous passive motion ( CPM ) has been shown to increase significantly the amount of knee flexion for patients with total knee arthroplasty in the acute care hospital . Whether there is any additional benefit to using CPM for these patients who are transferred to a rehabilitation hospital is not known . There have been no prospect i ve , r and omized , controlled studies in this area . Design Fifty-one such patients on an inpatient rehabilitation service were r and omly assigned to two groups . Group 1 ( n = 23 ) received CPM for 5 consecutive hours per day plus physical therapy , whereas group 2 ( n = 28 ) received only physical therapy .  Knee flexion was measured by a blinded physical therapist on admission , on the third and seventh days of hospitalization , and at the time of discharge . Results The results indicated no significant difference in passive range of motion between group 1 and group 2 . Patients in group 1 achieved an average increase in passive range of motion of 16 degrees , whereas those in group 2 achieved an average of 19 degrees ( P = 0.33 ) . Conclusion Although power analysis indicated the need for differences in results for 32 patients per group to achieve significance , the difference between the two groups suggested neither statistical nor clinical significance . We concluded that the use of CPM in the rehabilitation hospital is likely of no added benefit to patients admitted after single total-knee replacement
The estimates for risk of manipulation and adverse events are very imprecise and the estimate for the risk of adverse events does not distinguish between a clinical ly important increase and decrease in risk .
There was insufficient evidence to determine the effect of CPM on participants ' global assessment of treatment effectiveness .
CPM does not have clinical ly important effects on active knee flexion ROM , pain , function or quality of life to justify its routine use .
BACKGROUND Arthritis of the knee is a common problem causing pain and disability .
If severe , knee arthritis can be surgically managed with a total knee arthroplasty .
Rehabilitation following knee arthroplasty often includes continuous passive motion ( CPM ) .
CPM is applied by a machine that passively and repeatedly moves the knee through a specified range of motion ( ROM ) .
It is believed that CPM increases recovery of knee ROM and has other therapeutic benefits .
However , it is not clear whether CPM is effective .
OBJECTIVES To assess the benefits and harms of CPM and st and ard postoperative care versus similar postoperative care , with or without additional knee exercises , in people with knee arthroplasty .
This review is an up date of a 2003 and 2010 version of the same review .