Clinical Outcomes of Patients Who Perform High-Load Activities after Total Hip Arthroplasty in Snowy Agricultural Areas

Background: In snowy agricultural areas, weeding and snow shoveling are essential activities, and sports activities are common recreational activities. Clarifying the relationships between the degrees of these activities after total hip arthroplasty (THA) and the clinical outcomes may enable us to predict the results of THA for high-load activity patients. Methods: The subjects were 227 post-THA patients who were followed up between 2012 and 2014. Patient-reported outcomes were investigated by the Japanese Orthopaedic Association Hip Disease Evaluation Questionnaire (JHEQ) and a questionnaire on postoperative activity. In addition, the Japanese Orthopaedic Association Hip Score (JOA score) was used to quantify hip function. Results: Patients who resumed activities had significantly higher JOA and JHEQ scores than patients who had given up their activities. However, 25.8% of patients had not resumed weeding with a squatting posture. Furthermore, 20% had not resumed sports activities. The most common reason for giving up these activities was fear of implant failure. Conclusions: If the patients were informed that there is no problem restarting their activities after THA, the patients could resume activities and their clinical outcomes may be improved.