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Background Osteoarthritis knee (OA) for patients whom had varus malalignment had higher peak adductor moment. Hip abductor strength played an important role in the decreasement of knee adduction moment. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of hip abductor exercises for patients who had medial compartment knees OA. Methods Patients who had medial compartmental OA knee were randomized into two groups. The first group performed hip abductor strengthening exercises, combined with quadriceps strengthening exercises; whereas, the second group performed standalone quadriceps strengthening exercises. Self-reported Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Scores (KOOS) were collected by patients on follow-up visits. Results Eighty-six patients completed the trial. All KOOS subscales were significantly improved in both groups after 10 weeks of treatment. However, there was no significant difference in the scores between either group at 2–10 weeks after treatment. Nevertheless, the effects of exercise for pain, symptoms, function in daily living and knee-related quality of life were found to have faster improvement within the hip abduction exercise group compared to the control group (2 weeks faster; pain, function in daily living and knee-related quality of life, 4 weeks faster; symptoms.) Conclusion Since, adding quadriceps exercises could expedite improvement of less pain, symptoms, activity in daily living and quality of life faster than quadriceps exercises solely for a 2–4 weeks period. However, the effect size was small and there were no differences after this; hence, consideration of adding hip abductor exercises in the treatment protocol should be based on the patients and doctors appraisal. Trial registration TCTR, TCTR20180517005. Registered 17 May 2018.

Objective: Adhesive strips are used as the sole method for skin closure in many operations except total knee arthroplasty. The claims are decreased wound closure time, less tissue reaction, and lack of stitch marks. The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of closure using adhesive strips versus running subcuticular stitches. Methods: This study was a retrospective case-matched study. Running subcuticular stitches or adhesive strips were used for skin closure in 151 and 137 patients, respectively. All of the patients had an operation by a single surgeon and had the same patient care protocol. All of the patients were evaluated postoperatively for wound complication at 2 weeks, 6 weeks, and 3 months follow-up. Results: The wounds of most patients in both groups had healed. The incidence of superficial infection was not different between the groups (1.32% in the running subcuticular suture group and 1.46% in the adhesive strip group) ( p = 0.92). One case (0.66%) in the running subcuticular suture group had deep infection, which required reoperation ( p = 0.34). The patients in the running subcuticular suture group had higher unabsorbable sutures, which required further removal compared to the adhesive strip group ( p < 0.001). Conclusion: The use of adhesive strips is an effective skin closure method with a low rate of infection and skin complications. This technique is easy and there is no need for suture removal. Furthermore, there are no stitch marks and the cost of suturing is lower.

Background An intramedullary guide is an instrument that surgeons use to align the distal femoral cut. The opening may become a channel that drains intramedullary blood to the knee joint after surgery if left open during surgery. The authors aimed to evaluate the effects of an intramedullary bone plug with respect to postoperative blood loss from a meta-analysis. Methods The authors performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to compare a sealed opening using an intramedullary bone plug with no bone plug. PubMed, Ovid, Embase, and Cochrane Library were used to identify all publications before May 2018. All of the included studies were evaluated for bias and heterogeneity. Results Six hundred and thirty-six patients from four randomized controlled trials were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled results demonstrated that patients with intramedullary plug had lower rates of blood transfusion and lower level of reduced postoperative hemoglobin than patients in whom the intramedullary canal was not plugged. Discussion This meta-analysis demonstrated the benefit of intramedullary sealing with a bone plug in total knee arthroplasty with respect to decreased postoperative blood loss.

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