Measuring what matters to patients after joint replacement
For decades, joint replacement success was judged mostly by revision rates: did the implant last? That remains vital. But it says little about whether a patient can climb stairs, sleep through the night or get back to the garden. Patient reported outcome measures, or PROMs, fill that gap.
PROMs at national scale
The Australian Orthopaedic Association National Joint Replacement Registry collects PROMs before surgery and six months after, including the Oxford Knee Score, the EQ 5D 5L quality of life measure, a knee pain rating, and questions on satisfaction and perceived change.
A 2026 registry study used these data to compare 60,145 people who had either a partial (unicompartmental) or total knee replacement for osteoarthritis (Fidler et al., Acta Orthopaedica, 2026).
What it found
People having partial knee replacement started with better scores, but improved by a similar or smaller amount than those having total knee replacement.
Quality of life gains were equivalent in both groups.
Partial knee patients reported slightly higher satisfaction, but none of the differences reached the threshold patients themselves would consider meaningful.
The headline lesson isn't about implants. It's that measuring outcomes from the patient's perspective can overturn long held assumptions.
Why PROMs matter for rehab
Six months is a long time to wait to find out a recovery is off track. Many of the same measures, pain, function and confidence, can be tracked much earlier and more often during rehabilitation, giving clinicians a chance to act while it still makes a difference.
Using PROMs well
Collect a baseline before surgery, so improvement can be measured properly.
Track between reviews, not just at fixed milestones.
Share results with patients. Seeing progress in numbers is motivating.
Act on the outliers. A patient whose scores stall is a patient to call.
BIBO collects pain and patient reported measures alongside exercise data, so clinicians see the whole picture as recovery unfolds.
This article is general information for health professionals and is not clinical advice.
