Knee4Life: Empowering Knee Recovery After Total Knee Replacement Through Digital Health

Summary

We are creating a digital health tool utilising computer vision and real-time assessments to monitor and improve knee recovery after total knee replacement (TKR). This tool will help detect early signs of knee stiffness and provide personalised feedback to prevent complications. 

What are we doing?

There is currently no tool to remotely and accurately detect the development of early post-surgical knee stiffness. Therefore this project is working to: 

• Develop a cost-effective tool for remote monitoring of knee stiffness post-TKR. 

• Validate the tool’s accuracy, feasibility, and usability for home use. 

• Enable early intervention to improve patient outcomes and reduce healthcare costs. 

How are we doing it?

The study has three stages; 

• Focus Group: Engaging TKR patients and healthcare professionals to gather insights. 

• Clinical Trial: Conducting lab testing with 30 TKR patients and 30 healthy participants at the VSimulator and teaching labs. 

• Proof of Concept for Home Monitoring: Participants will be performing lab tasks at home and record their movements and symptoms using the Knee4Life app. 

What happens next?

The research team will apply for an NIHR (National Institute for Health Research) grant to evaluate the Knee4Life tool on a larger scale. This step is essential to assess the effectiveness and scalability of the tool for broader use across the NHS and potentially other healthcare systems.