The Burden of Revision Arthroplasty: An Ergonomic Analysis of Surgeon Posture in the Operating Room.

Background: Revision total joint arthroplasties are physically demanding cases. Recent studies have shown increased cardiovascular stress in surgeons performing revision total knee arthroplasty (rTKA) and revision total hip arthroplasty (rTHA) compared with primary cases. To our knowledge, no study has compared surgeon ergonomics during these cases. The purpose of this study was to analyze surgeon posture during primary and revision THA and TKA.

Methods: We prospectively evaluated 286 consecutive cases (103 primary TKAs, 95 primary THAs, 57 rTKAs, and 31 rTHAs) performed by three high-volume, fellowship-trained arthroplasty surgeons. Throughout each case, surgeons wore a posture-tracking device to evaluate time spent slouching. The threshold for slouching was set to 30 degrees of flexion from the neutral spinal axis. Demographic and surgical factors were collected. Two-tailed t-tests and multivariate analysis were used to assess differences between groups.

Results: After controlling for individual differences in posture, we found an increase in percentage and duration of time spent slouching between rTHA and primary THA cases (58.9% vs. 43.2%, P < 0.001; 65.1 vs. 32.6 minutes, P < 0.001). In the multivariate analysis, patient body mass index and rTHA were found to be an individual contributor to slouching percentage in THAs (P = 0.001). We found increased duration of time spent slouching between rTKA and primary TKA (80.2 vs. 45.7 minutes, P < 0.001); however, percentage time slouching showed no difference (67.1% vs. 58.5%, P = 0.175). Active fellow involvement was an individual contributor to decreased time slouching in both TKA and THA groups (P < 0.001).

Conclusions: Surgeons performing revision total joint arthroplasty spend markedly more case time in a slouched posture compared with primary arthroplasty, particularly in patients with a higher body mass index. Awareness of the surgical and patient factors that can affect posture in TKAs and THAs can help arthroplasty surgeons gain more awareness about injury prevention and potentially help prolong their career.