4 Common Questions on Knee Replacement Surgery To most people, knee replacement surgery seems like such a trivial matter that seems about as scary as a big rabid mouse locked in a steel cage. It couldn’t get to you if it tried, so why be afraid? That is, until the cage bursts open and there’s no longer anything between you and it. Your perception changes when you are the one facing the surgery, suddenly wishing you remembered how to deal with rabid mice. Suddenly your mind fills with questions and you wonder why you never asked more questions when others were telling you about their surgeries. You want to know what injuries need knee replacement, why it has to be replaced, how successful it is, and how long it will take to recover from.
Who Gets Knee Surgery and Why From the beginning, a majority of knee replacement surgeries are given because of osteoarthritis in elderly patients, 60 to 80 years of age. Osteoarthritis occurs when your joint has run down the cartilage on the gliding surface of the knee. It causes bones to rub against each other directly. It’s a painful ordeal that limits your movement and is diagnosed by a doctor. In younger patients, knee replacement surgeries are often only needed when you suffer from severe knee trauma. In that case, you will have visited a doctor for the pain anyways, and he or she will recommend surgery if it’s needed. Generally though, most adults under the age of 60 won’t run into a need for it. Second, if you’ve been told that you need it, your next question might be why? Why do you need to replace the knee? Isn’t there something else a doctor can do to fix the problem? The answer to that question isn’t easy to answer. The meniscus, or the cartilage on the gliding surface of the knee, is in a degenerative state that can’t be reversed. The more you move your leg, the worse it becomes. Pain increases while mobility decreases. If you want to be able to walk pain free for years to come, a knee replacement surgery will help you do so. Painkillers alone won’t help take care of the degenerative problem at hand. Third, how successful are these surgeries anyways? Knee replacements were the most common procedure performed in the United States in 2010.
Over 721,000 were performed in that year alone. Advancements in technology and the sheer amount of experience these knee replacement surgeons have makes the vast majority of these surgeries successful.
Getting Back to Daily Life There’s little to worry about in that department. Fourth and finally, how long will it take to recover? Obviously, the younger you are, the faster you will recover. In general though, patients return to normal activity within 1 to 6 months. Most patients are on a walker in 2 days, at home in 3, and finished short-term recovery in 6 to 12 weeks. Complete healing of wounds and internal soft tissues will take anywhere between 3 to 6 months. Although the long-term recovery will take a while, you can usually get back to many of your normal movements within the first couple of months. Hopefully that addressed and calmed some of your concerns; knee replacements happen all the time and are well taken care of in the medical community. The Hoffmann Institute offers the help of an experienced knee replacement surgeon to those that need them in Salt Lake City. A quality knee replacement surgeon will help you return to your normal activities quickly.