ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Med.
Sec. Rheumatology
Effects of IMB Model-Based Rehabilitation on Exercise Compliance and Knee Function After Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Provisionally accepted
- The People’s Hospital of SND, Suzhou, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of rehabilitation training measures under the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills (IMB) model on rehabilitation training compliance and knee function of patients after total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Method: A randomized controlled trial was performed. A total of 90 patients who underwent TKA at our hospital between June 2022 to June 2023 were randomly assigned to either a control group (n=45, conventional nursing care), or an observation group (n=45, rehabilitation training based on the IMB model). Patient compliance (Orthopedic Functional Exercise Compliance Scale), knee joint function (Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) Knee Rating Scale), symptoms and functional status (the Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS)), pain intensity (Visual Analogue Scale (VAS)), and exercise tolerance (the 6-minute walk distance (6MWD) test) were assessed at discharge, as well as at 1 month and 3 months postoperatively. Results: A significant Group × Time interaction (p < 0.001) for all outcomes, indicating different recovery trajectories between groups. While groups were comparable at discharge (p > 0.05), the IMB-based intervention group demonstrated significantly greater improvement than the control group at both 1 and 3 months. Specifically, the observation group had higher functional exercise compliance (1-month: 60.89 vs. 50.11; 3-month: 70.07 vs. 61.87), better knee function (HSS: 1-month: 72.31 vs. 62.04; 3-month: 80.82 vs. 69.29; KOOS also significantly higher), lower pain scores (VAS: 1-month: 3.89 vs. 4.82; 3-month: 2.00 vs. 3.84), and longer 6MWD (1-month: 416.02 m vs. 373.09 m; 3-month: 530.82 m vs. 459.67 m) (all between-group p < 0.001). Conclusion: Rehabilitation training interventions based on the IMB model can significantly enhance patients’ compliance with postoperative rehabilitation exercises and effectively improve knee joint function, reduce pain intensity, and enhance exercise tolerance, demonstrating the practical utility and value of the IMB model in promoting functional recovery after TKA.
Keywords: Arthroplasty, Rehabilitation, Patient Compliance, information-motivation-behavioral skills model, Knee Joint
Received: 28 Apr 2025; Accepted: 31 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wei, Wei, Feng, Yang, Zhang and He. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xiaohong He, hexhong259@163.com
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.