Fig. 2. Time course of knee flexion and patient autonomy. Postoperative knee flexion (degrees) at 1 (D1), 4 (D4), and 7 days (D7) and 1 (M1) and 3 months (M3) after surgery (  A ). Patient autonomy as assessed by time taken (days after surgery) to stand up with assistance, stand up without assistance, use the toilet with assistance, and use the toilet without assistance (  B ). Block group = patients treated by combined sciatic (single-shot) and femoral (continuous for 48 h after surgery) nerve blocks; PCA group = patients treated by morphine patient-controlled analgesia. Block group patients had a more rapid recovery in terms of operative knee flexion between D1 and M1 (analysis of variance, group effect,  P = 0.0001;  A ).  Post hoc analysis showed significant differences at D1 (  t test,  P = 0.0001), D4 (  t test,  P = 0.0004), D7 (  t test,  P = 0.009), and M1 (  t test,  P = 0.01). **  t test,  P < 0.01. ***  t test,  P < 0.001. Patients in the block group gained autonomy in terms of non assisted mobilization and use of the toilet more rapidly than patients from the PCA group. *  t test  P < 0.05.