Ishikura H, Masuyama Y, Fujita S, Tanaka T, Tanaka S, Nishiwaki T. Return to work and resumption of driving after anterior minimally invasive total hip arthroplasty. World J Orthop 2025; 16(2): 103817 [DOI: 10.5312/wjo.v16.i2.103817]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Toru Nishiwaki, MD, PhD, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Shizuoka Red Cross Hospital, 8-2 Oitecho, Aoi-ku, Shizuoka 420-0853, Japan. tornish@gmail.com
Research Domain of This Article
Orthopedics
Article-Type of This Article
Retrospective Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Hisatoshi Ishikura, Yuji Masuyama, Sho Fujita, Toru Nishiwaki, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Shizuoka Red Cross Hospital, Shizuoka 420-0853, Japan
Hisatoshi Ishikura, Takeyuki Tanaka, Sakae Tanaka, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku 113-8655, Tokyo, Japan
Author contributions: Ishikura H drafted the manuscript; Ishikura H and Masuyama Y contributed to acquisition of data; Ishikura H, Masuyama Y and Nishiwaki T contributed to the study concept and design; Ishikura H, Fujita S, Tanaka T and Nishiwaki T contributed to the analysis and interpretation of the data; Masuyama Y, Tanaka S and Nishiwaki T made significant contributions to the revision of the manuscript with important advice; all authors reviewed the manuscript and agreed to the submission of the final version.
Institutional review board statement: The study was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee of Shizuoka Red Cross Hospital (No. 2023-36, approval date: January 12, 2024).
Informed consent statement: Written informed consent was obtained from all study participants.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Data sharing statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Toru Nishiwaki, MD, PhD, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Shizuoka Red Cross Hospital, 8-2 Oitecho, Aoi-ku, Shizuoka 420-0853, Japan. tornish@gmail.com
Received: December 2, 2024 Revised: January 4, 2025 Accepted: January 15, 2025 Published online: February 18, 2025 Processing time: 72 Days and 16.9 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Return to work (RTW) and resumption of driving (ROD) are critical factors that influence postoperative quality of life in patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty (THA). However, few studies have focused on the minimally invasive (MIS) approach and its effect on these outcomes.
AIM
To investigate RTW and ROD's timelines and influencing factors following anterior MIS-THA.
METHODS
A retrospective analysis was conducted on 124 patients who underwent anterior MIS-THA. Data on the demographics, occupational physical demands, and RTW/ROD timelines were also collected. Clinical outcomes were measured using standardised scoring systems. Statistical analyses were performed to evaluate the differences between the groups based on employment status and physical workload.
RESULTS
Among employed patients, the RTW rate was 94.7%, with an average return time of five weeks. The average ROD time was 3.5 weeks across all patients. Despite similar postoperative clinical scores, RTW time was significantly influenced by occupations' physical workload, with heavier physical demands associated with delayed RTW.
CONCLUSION
Anterior MIS-THA facilitates early RTW and ROD, particularly in occupations with lower physical demands. These findings highlight the importance of considering occupational and physical workload in postoperative care planning to optimize recovery outcomes.
Core Tip: This study investigates the outcomes of anterior minimally invasive total hip arthroplasty (MIS-THA), focusing on return to work (RTW) and resumption of driving (ROD). Among 124 patients, 94.7% returned to work within an average of 5 weeks. All patients who drove preoperatively resumed driving postoperatively, with an average ROD time of 3.5 weeks. Patients with heavier physical workloads required more time to RTW compared to those with lighter workloads. The findings highlight the advantages of MIS-THA, including reduced recovery times and tailored postoperative care to support occupational demands, contributing to improved quality of life and productivity.
