• J Athl Train · Dec 2016

    Patient Experiences of Recovery After Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation: A Qualitative Study.

    • Jenny L Toonstra, Dana Howell, Robert A English, Christian Lattermann, and Carl G Mattacola.
    • Athletic Training Education Program, Department of Health and Sport Sciences, Salisbury University, MD.
    • J Athl Train. 2016 Dec 1; 51 (12): 1028-1036.

    ContextThe recovery process after autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) can be challenging for patients and clinicians alike due to significant functional limitations and a lengthy healing time. Understanding patients' experiences during the recovery process may assist clinicians in providing more individualized care.ObjectiveTo explore and describe patients' experiences during the recovery process after ACI.DesignQualitative study.SettingOrthopaedic clinic.Patients Or Other ParticipantsParticipants from a single orthopaedic practice who had undergone ACI within the previous 12 months were purposefully selected.Data Collection And AnalysisVolunteers participated in 1-on-1 semistructured interviews to describe their recovery experiences after ACI. Data were analyzed using the process of horizontalization.ResultsSeven patients (2 men, 5 women; age = 40.7 ± 7.5 years, time from surgery = 8.7 ± 4.2 months) participated. Four themes and 6 subthemes emerged from the data and suggested that the recovery process is a lengthy and emotional experience. Therapy provides optimism for the future but requires a collaborative effort among the patient, surgeon, rehabilitation provider, and patient's caregiver(s). Furthermore, patients expressed frustration that their expectations for recovery did not match the reality of the process, including greater dependence on caregivers than expected.ConclusionsPatients' expectations should be elicited before surgery and managed throughout the recovery process. Providing preoperative patient and caregiver education and encouraging preoperative rehabilitation can assist in managing expectations. Establishing realistic goals and expectations may improve rehabilitation adherence, encourage optimism for recovery, and improve outcomes in the long term.

      Pubmed     Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…