A prospective cohort study investigating functional recovery in patients with osteoarthritis following total hip arthroplasty using a direct anterior versus direct lateral surgical approach
We used a quasi-randomized cohort study to investigate whether there are differences in early functional recovery between patients who undergo total hip arthroplasty using a direct anterior (DA) or direct lateral (DL) surgical approach. We found significant differences in favour of the DA group for many functional outcomes including: gait velocity, stride length, operative limb single-limb support, single-limb support symmetry and time to complete the Timed Up and Go. Our primary outcome, gait velocity, was significantly greater in the DA group at discharge, two weeks and six weeks postoperative with adjusted mean differences of 0.12m/s, 0.15m/s and 0.17m/s respectively. There was no difference between the groups at any time point for quality of life or pain. The DA approach to THA offers better early functional outcomes than the DL group
