Wednesday, 2 January 2013

Important Facts about Knee Replacement Surgeries

If you have been suffering from osteoarthritis for a long duration of time, your knees, elbows and joints could be highly vulnerable to extensive cartilage damage. When the cartilage tissue between two joints or bones deteriorates, the possibility of the bones grating against each other is extremely high. This leads to bone deformities in the affected area, in turn causing extreme pain and discomfort. Since re-growth of cartilages is highly debated, the possibility of your knees being permanently affected, leading to mobility problems cannot be ruled out. Read on to discover more about knee replacement surgeries.  

You may look for surgical options that replace a part of your knee or the complete knee depending on the severity of the damage caused. Alternatively, you could also look out for non surgical knee replacement techniques that promise to provide relief from pain and discomfort without involving any type of invasive techniques whatsoever.

Partial Knee Replacement

In this procedure, a part of your knee that has been affected is removed or reshaped to facilitate better functioning. Since your knee is made up of three different compartments, your doctor will first determine the compartment that needs replacement and then he/she might look into surgical alternatives.
After reshaping the damaged compartment, the remaining compartments of the knee are covered up using a combination of plastic and metal implants. This procedure can be employed only if the remaining two compartments of the knee have cartilage tissues around them. The surgery procedure is quicker when compared to total knee replacement techniques. Additionally, the person will be able to recover faster, resulting in quick prognosis.

Complete Knee Replacement

If the cartilage tissue has completely worn out between all three compartments of your knee, your doctor might suggest you to undergo a complete knee replacement. In this technique, the damaged portions of the knee are completely removed. Artificial implants are then secured into the adjacent bones to allow for normal ingrowths of cells and tissues around the area. This procedure is also called arthoplasty.

Depending on your weight, age and health status, your doctor might place mobile or fixed bearing implants. Those who are overweight or those of younger age groups are often advised to go with mobile implants. These are famed for lasting longer and undergo slow wear and tear, helping the patients use them for prolonged periods of time without having to go in for alternative surgeries.

Older sections of the society on the other hand, are advised to go for fixed implants. The latter remain secure for prolonged periods of time and decrease the pain associated after surgery.

Non surgical knee replacement therapies are soon gathering interest amongst some patients. Since surgeries always come with multiple fears and anxieties along with pain and swelling amongst other side effects, non-surgical interventions that make use of exercises or lifestyle changes that help in weight loss, decreasing the pressure on one or both the knees, are highly favored amongst some patients.