Objectives: To investigate the preferred types of sports activities of patients with rotationplasty and to measure their physiologic performance characteristics through treadmill ergometry.
Design: Cross-sectional, descriptive analysis and repeated measures of different velocities.
Setting: Biomechanics research laboratory.
Participants: Patients (n=61) with rotationplasty after bone tumor surgery, 30 of whom participated in a functional trial (treadmill), and a control group (n=20).
Interventions: Not applicable.
Main outcome measures: Patients' participation in sports compared with that of the healthy population, treadmill performance at 2 or 3 different speeds, heart rate, lactate accumulation, oxygen consumption, ventilatory equivalent, efficiency, respiratory minute volume, and respiratory quotient.
Results: High activity in sports participation (85%) in most common sports (8 competitive, 17 sports club members, the remaining subjects were recreational athletes). At the same treadmill speed, lactate accumulation and all cardiorespiratory functions were higher in rotationplasty patients than in the control group.
Conclusions: Patients can re-engage in a high level of physical activity after rotationplasty for bone tumor treatment. This physical activity is necessary if patients want to maintain or improve a desired level of sports activity.