Objective: To investigate the effects of social restrictions imposed during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on postoperative functional recovery in patients who underwent surgery for degenerative musculoskeletal disorders. Methods: This longitudinal prospective cohort study included 291 patients categorized into pre-pandemic (surgery in 2018), early pandemic (2019), and late-pandemic (2020) groups based on their 1-year recovery period. The primary outcome was improvement in locomotive syndrome (LS) status 1 year after surgery. We analyzed the association between social limitations and LS improvement using multivariate logistic and segmented regression analyses. Results: The late-pandemic group exhibited the lowest LS improvement rate (50.6%) and the highest prevalence of postoperative social contact limitations (61.0%). Multivariate analysis identified the absence of postoperative social contact limitation as a highly potent independent predictor of LS improvement (odds ratio, 10.01; 95% confidence interval, 5.40–19.34; p<0.01). Segmented regression analysis revealed a time lag: social contact limitations peaked in March 2020, whereas the decline in LS improvement rates began in October 2020. Conclusion Prolonged social restrictions negatively impacted functional recovery, particularly during the late phase of the pandemic. Social participation, specifically direct social contact, could be a critical and independent component of postoperative rehabilitation. These findings underscore the need to integrate psychosocial assessments into standard postoperative care to optimize patient outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Several studies have shown that better placement of the acetabular cup and femoral stem can be achieved in total hip arthroplasty (THA) by using the computer navigation system rather than the free-hand alignment methods. However, there have been no comparisons of the relevant clinical advantages in using the computer navigation as opposed to the manual intraoperative measurement devices. The purpose of this study is to determine whether the use of computer navigation can improve postoperative leg length discrepancy (LLD) compared to the use of the measurement device. METHODS: We performed a retrospective study comparing 30 computer-assisted THAs with 40 THAs performed using a simple manual measurement device. RESULTS: The postoperative LLD was 3.0 mm (range, 0 to 8 mm) in the computer-assisted group and 2.9 mm (range, 0 to 10 mm) in the device group. Statistically significant difference was not seen between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: The results showed good equalization of the leg lengths using both computed tomography-based navigation and the simple manual measurement device.
Acetabulum/surgery ; Adult ; Aged, 80 and over ; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip/instrumentation/*methods ; Body Weights and Measures ; Female ; Femur/surgery ; Humans ; Leg ; Leg Length Inequality/*surgery ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Surgery, Computer-Assisted ; Young Adult