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Although total knee replacement (TKR) clearly improves function and reduces pain in properly selected patients, benefits sometimes fall short of expectations. In this prospective cohort study, researchers sought to determine the effect of coexisting orthopedic problems on patient-reported outcomes in 180 patients who underwent TKR.
Before TKR, about half the patients suffered moderate-to-severe pain in one or both hips, the contralateral knee, or the low back. In analyses adjusted for age, sex, and body-mass index, having preoperative pain in any of those locations predicted poorer overall physical function at 6 months after TKR. In general, the greater the preoperative pain at any non-TKR site and the greater the number of painful non-TKR s…