RESEARCH - Diabetes slows recovery after knee replacement surgery

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Diabetes slows recovery after knee replacement surgery

By Jill Stein

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters Health) Oct 19 - Diabetic patients undergoing

total knee arthroplasty (TKA) obtain slower relief of their pain after

the procedure than non-diabetics, Canadian researchers reported at the

2009 Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of

Rheumatology.

" The results mean that pain management should not be uniform in

patients presenting for knee replacement surgery, " C. Allyson ,

PhD, associate professor of physical therapy at the University of

Alberta, told Reuters Health. " Doctors and nurses need to make more of

an effort to ask diabetic patients about their extent of pain and also

to consider managing it more aggressively than they would nondiabetic

patients. "

and colleagues compared the patterns of recovery after primary

TKA in 60 diabetic and 345 non-diabetic patients.

" While diabetic patients have a higher rate of musculoskeletal and

peripheral neurologic problems which may lengthen recovery after joint

arthroplasty, it is not known to what extent individual conditions

like diabetes may contribute to the delay, " Dr. said.

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Read the full article here:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/710945

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