Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common cause of physical disability for children worldwide. Many infants and toddlers are not diagnosed with CP until they fail to achieve obvious motor milestones. Currently, there are no effective pharmacologic interventions available for infants and toddlers to substantially improve their trajectory of neurodevelopment. Because children with CP from preterm birth also exhibit a sustained immune system hyper-reactivity, we hypothesized that neuro-immunomodulation with a regimen of repurposed endogenous neurorestorative medications, erythropoietin (EPO) and melatonin (MLT) could improve this trajectory. Thus, we administered EPO+MLT to rats with CP during human infant-toddler equivalency to determine whether we could influence gait patterns in mature animals. After a prenatal injury on embryonic day 18 (E18) that mimics chorioamnionitis at ~25 weeks human gestation, rat pups were born and raised with their dam. Beginning on postnatal day 15 (P15), equivalent to human infant ~1 year, rats were randomized to receive either a regimen of EPO+MLT or vehicle (sterile saline) through P20. Gait was assessed in young adult rats at P30 using computerized digital gait analyses including videography on a treadmill. Results indicate that gait metrics of young adult rats treated with an infantile cocktail of EPO+MLT were restored compared to vehicle-treated rats (p<0.05), and similar to sham controls. These results provide reassuring evidence that pharmacological interventions may be beneficial to infants and toddlers who are diagnosed with CP well after the traditional neonatal window of intervention.

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The ability to kneel is one of the many patient goals after total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Few studies have addressed patients' ability to kneel after TKA as a primary outcome. Given the altered biomechanics of the knee after TKA, the various implant designs, and multiple surgical approaches, there is a need to further understand the patient's kneeling ability after TKA. We evaluated the available literature on this topic to help to guide postoperative care recommendations. Biomechanical data show that the load borne by the patellofemoral joint is elevated significantly at all flexion angles, whereas tibiofemoral articulation pressures are elevated only at 90 to 120 degrees of flexion. However, these increased pressures are rarely borne by prosthetic knees because patients often avoid kneeling after TKA. In patients who do kneel after surgery, data show that increased range of motion promotes improved kneeling performance. Targeted interventions to encourage kneeling after TKA, including preoperative education, have not shown an ability to increase the frequency with which patients kneel after TKA. Reasons for patient avoidance of kneeling are multifaceted and complex. There is no biomechanical or clinical evidence contraindicating kneeling after TKA. There are insufficient data to recommend particular prosthetic designs or surgical approaches to maximize kneeling ability after surgery. Musculoskeletal health care providers should continue to promote kneeling to allow patients to achieve maximum clinical benefit after TKA.

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