## 3 Results
### Within Control Group Differences  
The post-hoc analysis for the interaction effect of muscle \(\times\) group \(\times\) time showed a significantly higher muscle activity imbalance for Q in comparison to H and G at every time point (\(p\) < 0.018). Moreover, H muscle activity imbalance was significantly higher than G in the last week before surgery and the 1 st, 2 nd and 4 th weeks in the post-operative phase (\(p\) < 0.001, \(p\) = 0.035, \(p\) = 0.004, \(p\) = 0.046; respectively) but not in the 3 rd and 5 th weeks (\(p\) = 0.077, \(p\) = 0.148; respectively).  
The muscle activity imbalance was significantly higher from the 1 st to 4 th weeks than in the last week before surgery for Q (\(p\) < 0.016 for all); H (\(p\) < 0.001). However, in the case of G muscle activity imbalance, it was significantly higher at every time point of post-operative phase than in the last week before surgery (\(p\) < 0.001).  
Moreover, the Q and H muscle activity imbalance significantly and successively decreased from the 1 st to last weeks in the post-operative phase (1 st vs. 2 nd; 2 nd vs. 3 rd; 3 rd vs. 4 th; 4 th vs. 5 th) (\(p\) < 0.02 for all; \(p\) < 0.04 for all; respectively). As for G, muscle activity imbalance decreased in the 1 st vs. 2 nd weeks (\(p\) = 0.001) and the 4 th vs. 5 th (\(p\) = 0.034) but not in the 2 nd vs. 3 rd (\(p\) = 0.06), and the 3 rd vs. 4 th (\(p\) = 0.172).  
Figure 1: Time-course of muscle activity imbalance during pre- and post-operative phases of rehabilitation program.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline  & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Pre-Operative Phase**} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Post-Operative Phase**} \\ \hline
**Week** & **5** & **4** & **3** & **2** & **1** & **1** & **2** & **3** & **4** & **5** \\ \hline \multicolumn{10}{c}{**Muscle Imbalance (\%) Mean \(\pm\) SD, 95\%/CD**} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**_p_ **(Muscle \(\times\) Time)**} \\ \hline \multicolumn{10}{c}{**Treatment Group**} \\ \hline Q & \(60\pm 6\) & \(54\pm 7\) & \(47\pm 5\) & \(40\pm 4\) & \(30\pm 3\) * & \(71\pm 4\) * & \(62\pm 2\) * & \(54\pm 3\) * & \(45\pm 3\) * & \(35\pm 3\) * \\ Q & (54 to 67) & (46 to 61) & (42 to 52) & (35 to 44) & (27 to 33) & (66 to 75) & (60 to 64) & (50 to 57) & (41 to 48) & (32 to 38) \\ \hline H & \(33\pm 4\) & \(29\pm 3\) & \(23\pm 3\) & \(19\pm 2\) & \(16\pm 2\) * & \(57\pm 4\) * & \(44\pm 3\) * & \(32\pm 4\) * & \(26\pm 2\) * & \(19\pm 3\) * \\ H & (29 to 37) & (26 to 33) & (20 to 27) & (16 to 22) & (14 to 17) & (53 to 61) & (40 to 47) & (27 to 36) & (24 to 29) & (16 to 22) \\ G & \(27\pm 2\) & \(22\pm 2\) & \(18\pm 2\) & \(17\pm 2\) & \(11\pm 1\) * & \(58\pm 4\) * & \(45\pm 5\) * & \(32\pm 4\) * & \(19\pm 3\) * & \(14\pm 2\) * \\ G & (25 to 29) & (19 to 24) & (15 to 20) & (14 to 19) & (10 to 12) & (53 to 62) & (40 to 50) & (27 to 36) & (16 to 22) & (11 to 10) \\ \hline \multicolumn{10}{c}{**Control Group**} \\ \hline Q & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**\(44\pm 6\)**} & \(78\pm 3\) * & \(70\pm 2\) * & \(66\pm 2\) * & \(59\pm 2\) * & \(51\pm 2\) * & \\ H & \multicolumn{4}{c}{33 \(\pm 4\)} & \(70\pm 3\) * & \(62\pm 3\) * & \(54\pm 3\) * & \(48\pm 2\) * & \(42\pm 2\) * & \(<\)0.001 \\ G & \multicolumn{4}{c}{19 \(\pm 3\)} & \(64\pm 2\) * & \(54\pm 2\) * & \(48\pm 4\) * & \(44\pm 3\) * & \(38\pm 3\) * \\ \hline \multicolumn{10}{c}{**Q–Quadrioptics macks, H–hamming muscles, C