How to Get Rid of Knee Arthritis with Knee Replacement Surgery?

Knee Replacement Surgery Overview

Living with Arthritis is everything but a simple thing to be done. The patients with Arthritis have to actually go through a lot in their lifetime and we cannot even begin to understand them completely.

Luckily there are a lot of effective treatment plans such as physical therapy, occupational therapy, medications, herbal and natural remedies that these patients can use to relieve their symptoms.

But one thing that all of these treatment plans are not is – cure. And that is how we are getting to knee replacement surgery.

Knee replacement surgery has been used for a while now to treat several conditions, however, in the last few years, more and more patients with Arthritis are asking their doctors to perform this procedure in order to relieve their Arthritis symptoms. Are you interested to find out more about this popular procedure?

What is Knee Replacement Surgery?

Knee replacement surgery is a medical procedure also known as Arthroplasty. It is usually performed whenever, due to various reasons, replacement of a damaged, worn off or diseased knee is required and an artificial knee joint is being used. Knee replacement surgery is a routine operation which has been performed for a several thousand times until now.

It is a surgery that can be done on any patient with no consideration of its age, although it is most commonly done among patients between the ages of 60 and 80.

The most common cause that leads to the requirement of knee replacement surgery is osteoarthritis, but rheumatoid arthritis, gout, knee injury, knee deformity, and bone dysplasias are often reasons that require bone replacement surgery.

The knee replacement surgery can be either in the form of a total knee replacement or in the form of partial (half) knee replacement.

Can You Get Rid of Arthritis with Knee Replacement Surgery?

Reading on a few available studies, we can say it for sure that the patients with Arthritis, especially those who are suffering from Osteoarthritis, have experienced certain improvements in relation to their symptoms.

One study^[1] published in the Ontario Health Technology Assessment Series has compared the effects of knee replacement surgery with the those of the regularly done physical therapy procedures and medications.

At the end of the research, it was confirmed that the use of knee replacement surgery has shown far greater results in the form of reduced pain and increased the range of motion within these Osteoarthritis patients among which the physical therapy and medications have failed to do so.

In another study^[2] published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, the subject of the investigation was the impact of knee replacement surgery on the mortality rate of patients with Osteoarthritis. What the study found was that knee replacement surgery is actually able to decrease the mortality among patients with Osteoarthritis^[3] successfully.

As you can see for yourself, not only is the knee replacement surgery an efficient medical procedure when it comes to reducing the symptoms caused by Arthritis, but it is also a procedure that can offer something that not many other of the normally used treatment options can and that is – to reduce the mortality rate among these same patients.

What Do You Need to Know before Getting your Knee Replacement Surgery?

Knee replacement surgery is only done by a professional after the reasons for it have been clearly determined. The knee replacement surgery itself is not a complicated procedure to be done, it is the rehabilitation process that follows after the surgery that it will require your time, motivation and patients to get better.

You will have to stay at the hospital and get regular physical and occupational therapy – now for the purposes of getting you out of bed and into your normal, everyday life as soon as possible. And that is the process that you have to believe in.

You will also probably have to use crutches for at least 8 to 12 weeks after the surgery. And remember – you are expected to fully recover only after two years from the surgery. You have to take in consideration and consult your doctor about all of these and many other important details before you agree to a knee replacement surgery.

Are There any Risks Related to Knee Replacement Surgery?

Although knee replacement surgery is considered to be a routine procedure with risks occurring rarely, you should still be aware of the possible complications which you can expect after the surgery is done. These complications include stiffness and pain in the knee, infection of the wound or the joint itself, ligament or nerve damage, fracture and blood clots.

However, with a proper rehabilitation plan, you should be able to avoid all of these complications and recover in no time. And your doctor a whole medical team will be right there by your side to make sure that no complications take place.

Read Next: The #25 Effective Home Remedies For Knee Pain

Conclusion

More and more Arthritis patients, especially those who have been diagnosed with Osteoarthritis, are considered to get a knee replacement surgery as an answer to their prayers for their symptoms to reduce. This routine procedure can save you from your troubles with pain, stiffness, swelling, and inflammation and increase the range of motion within the affected joints.

But that is not all. As it turns out – knee replacement surgery has also shown a great success in reducing the mortality rate among the Arthritis patients.

However, this procedure, as any other, is not without any risks. And there is the long and required rehabilitation process that you should take in consideration before agreeing on getting a knee replacement surgery to treat your Arthritis symptoms.

We encourage you to take this medical procedure in consideration but we also encourage you to consult your doctor about each and every detail related to the knee replacement surgery, its beneficial effects and potential risks so that you can protect yourself from the unknowing.