In select young and healthy population with few co morbidities  supervised physical therapy  is no more beneficial than a  home exercise program  following relatively simple knee surgical procedures ( arthroscopic meniscetomy ) .
Physical therapy is common following a knee surgery .
With rising healthcare costs there is debate as to the appropriateness of outpatient physical therapy following such interventions .
Many of the existing controlled trials have concluded that there is no benefit to subjects that receive supervised physical therapy when compared to subjects that perform their exercises at home .
The purpose of this systematic review was to consider the existing evidence regarding benefit following  knee surgery  and evaluate the quality , internal and external validity of such evidence .
Independent home versus supervised rehabilitation following arthroscopic knee surgery--a prospective randomized trial.
This prospect i ve study compared 30 patients r and omly assigned to either a home exercise program or supervised outpatient physical therapy following arthroscopic partial medial meniscectomy . Their knee functions were assessed at 2 , 4 , and 8 weeks postoperatively using isokinetic analysis and subjective question naires . At each evaluation , the home exercise group performed as well or better than the supervised physical therapy group . There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups . At 4 weeks postoperation , the mean percent deficit in torque ( strength ) between the affected and unaffected limbs was 22.1 % in the supervised rehabilitation group and 22.0 % in the home exercise . The percent deficit in terms of endurance was 7.7 % in the supervised group and 3.6 % in the home group . Similar results were noted with regard to the patients ' subjective evaluations of their knee function and ability to resume work and recreational activities . We conclude that a well-planned , unsupervised home exercise knee rehabilitation program can produce equally good postoperative recovery as compared to a supervised outpatient physical therapy regimen in properly selected patients following arthroscopic partial meniscectomy of the knee
In select young and healthy population with few co morbidities  supervised physical therapy  is no more beneficial than a  home exercise program  following relatively simple knee surgical procedures ( arthroscopic meniscetomy ) .
Physical therapy is common following a knee surgery .
With rising healthcare costs there is debate as to the appropriateness of outpatient physical therapy following such interventions .
Many of the existing controlled trials have concluded that there is no benefit to subjects that receive supervised physical therapy when compared to subjects that perform their exercises at home .
The purpose of this systematic review was to consider the existing evidence regarding benefit following  knee surgery  and evaluate the quality , internal and external validity of such evidence .