Abstract
A 73-year-old White female patient status-post right total knee arthroplasty was seen for physical therapy treatment for 3 sessions within a 2-day period in an inpatient acute care setting. Treatment was administered by a student physical therapist under the supervision of a licensed physical therapist. The patient was evaluated at the initial encounter with the numeric pain rating scale, manual muscle testing, goniometry, circumference measurements, 10-meter walk test, 6-minute walk test, Oxford knee score, EuroQol 5-dimension 5-level scale, the Wells’ criteria for deep vein thrombosis, and the Boston University activity measure for post-acute care. A plan of care was established to address primary goals of managing pain, improving functional mobility, and increasing gait speed and endurance to facilitate a safe discharge home where she would progressively return to cycling, strength training, and walking with friends. Interventions included task-specific functional mobility and gait training, stationary cycling, and strength training. Upon discharge home, the patient demonstrated improvements in pain, strength, and knee extension range of motion which translated to greater independence with functional mobility and improvements in gait speed and endurance.