Manual Lymphatic Drainage Before and After Total Knee Replacement, a Single-center Observer-blinded Randomized Controlled Trial

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT05119764

Enrollment

112

Registered

2021-11-15

Start date

2021-03-01

Completion date

2023-02-08

Last updated

2023-08-02

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Knee Osteoarthritis, Manual Lymphatic Drainage, MLD, Rehabilitation, Total Knee Arthroplasty

Brief summary

The aim of this observer-blinded randomized controlled trial is the evaluation of the influence of manual lymphatic drainage (MLD) on the outcome of patients receiving total knee replacement (TKA).

Interventions

PROCEDUREManual Lymphatic Drainage

Manual Lymphatic Drainage is a form of physical therapy with the primary goal of accelerating lymphatic drainage. In this study, the manual lymphatic drainage is applied by experienced physical therapists 5 days in a row for 30 minutes each; after and/or before the surgery.

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE (Investigator)

Masking description

Observer/Investigators are unaware of the treatment arm of each patient. Patients cannot be blinded, due to the obvious treatment intervention (manual lymphatic drainage 15 minutes for 5 days).

Intervention model description

Randomized controlled trial with three treatment groups, two intervention groups and one control group

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

18 Years to No maximum

Healthy volunteers

Inclusion criteria

* Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA)

Exclusion criteria

* Venous insufficiency * BMI \> 38 * Vascular disease

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Volume	Change in swelling weeks before the operation to one year after the operation	The swelling/volume is calculated through measurements of the circumference at 7 distinct points of the leg. The unit is \[mm\].
Function	Change in ROM weeks before the operation to one year after the operation	Knee range of motion (ROM), active and passive. The unit is \[degrees\]
Knee Pain	Change in pain weeks before the operation to one year after the operation	Visual analogue scale from 0 to 10 on the average level of knee pain in the last 24 hours.

Secondary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Subjective patient reported outcome	Before the operation, five days after the operation and one year after the operation	WOMAC Score (Western Ontario and McMaster University Osteoarthritis Index)

Countries

Austria

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026