Knee replacements – are they worth
it?
Knee replacements are often recommended for people suffering with
osteoarthritis, joint disease or serious injuries from earlier in life. Knee
issues can cause excruciating pain so often specialists recommend a replacement
as a way to free up the patient from continually popping the pain killers.
Symptoms of arthritis, or a serious injury in the knee are swelling,
pain, and deformity of the knee. This can seriously affect your quality of life
and cause some restrictions on you day to day activities. It can cause problems
doing tasks such as getting in and out of the car, climbing up the stairs, and sitting
or walking for extended periods of time leading to frustration but not
necessarily surgery.
There are other treatments that can
be tried before resorting to surgery. Some of these treatments include physiotherapy,
pain medications and anti-inflammatories, also weight loss helps as the risk of
osteoarthritis is twice as high if you’re overweight.
The
operation
If you do require surgery, the good
news is that the replacements have continued to improve over the years. Not
only in how they are made but also the way they are inserted into the knee which
decreases the recovery time. The metal and plastic bits, the way they are fixed
to the bone, the techniques used, the technology to put them in and even rehab
afterwards has improved over the years. However if you can delay surgery for as
long as possible that one expense and inconvenience will last you the rest of
your life also saving you future pain.
The knee replacement procedure is done by making small cuts into the
leg, allowing the surgeon to then either replace the whole knee with prostheses
or only part of the knee. The procedure is performed under a general or local
anaesthetic.
Recovery
Recovery from the operation can vary from person to person but can take anything
from 6 weeks before you are feeling up to being up and about to 12months. Medication
will be given to keep pain at a manageable level, and your pain should decrease
in the first few days after surgery. Many doctors get patients up within 4–6
hours after the operation and within 3 or 4 days they can usually go home.
Other options
If you are feeling hesitant about having knee surgery why not try some
natural options first? Reducing your inflammation with the help of a naturopath
at our clinic, correct diet and supplements, losing weight, reiki or other
energy healing and exercise. Quite often these can help you avoid an operation.
Give us a call to find out how we can help.
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