FAQ

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis. It is caused by the breakdown of cartilage. Cartilage is the tough elastic material that covers and protects the ends of bones. Bits of cartilage may break off and cause pain and swelling in the joint between bones. This pain and swelling is called inflammation. Over time the cartilage may wear away entirely, and the bones will rub together. Osteoarthritis can affect any joint but usually affects hips, knees, hands and spine.

When arthritis or other conditions cause chronic pain that inhibits activity and can’t be addressed through medications, physical therapy or other treatments, replacing the affected joint can help. Joint replacement is a surgical procedure in which a worn out or injured joint, most often the knee or hip, is replaced with a metal, ceramic or plastic joint. For many people, a new minimally invasive joint replacement technique requires a much smaller incision, shorter hospital stay, less time for recovery and less trauma on surrounding muscles and tissues. This surgery has been widely used for many years with excellent results, especially with knees and hips. Other joints, such as shoulders, elbows and knuckles, may also be replaced.

Arthritic Knee If you have severe Knee pain that is limiting your mobility and affecting your daily functions, you may benefit from Knee replacement. The following three are the most common causes of joint damage due to arthritis:

Osteoarthritis: A disease which involves the wearing away of the normal smooth joint surfaces. This results in bone-on-bone contact, producing pain and stiffness.
Rheumatoid Arthritis: The body’s immune system attacks and destroys the synovial lining covering the joint capsule, the protective cartilage and the joint surface. This causes pain, swelling, joint damage and loss of mobility.
Trauma related arthritis: Resulting from damage to the joint from a previous injury. It also results in joint damage, pain and loss of mobility.

Knee replacement is removing the edges of the joint that have been diseased by degeneration or trauma. Knee resurfacing is like a retread. The only part of the joint that is resurfaced is the side of the joint that is diseased.

Most of the patients with severe crippling arthritis have severe affection of both knee joints and deformities.

The advantages of replacing both knees simultaneously in one stage are :

• Single anaesthesia and hospitalisation
• One time medication and rehabilitation
• More economical

The patients who undergo simultaneous bilateral TKR definitely have more cardio-respiratory fluctuations than staged joint replacement but choosing the right patient, having good intensive care and cardiac back up, our experience has been good with no significant increase in complication rate and equally good results when compared to staged procedure (one knee at a time).

I try to take an individualized approach to my patients. For patients who haven’t had any other treatments, I want to see them try some of the simpler things first – anti-inflammatory injections, physical therapy, maybe even arthroscopic surgery. At the same time I will follow them closely, checking them every couple of months, maybe with X-rays, to see if they are losing bone, because I can’t in general make the bone come back. If a patient comes to me who has tried other options and still has problems – they can’t walk where they need to go and have a lot of trouble getting around and doing the things they want to do – then that’s when we start looking at a joint replacement.
I try some of the simpler things first because even though joint replacements work very well for most people, they don’t work well for everybody.

While the new, minimally invasive procedures available through our Joint Replacement Centre require a smaller incision and less recovery time, some pain will accompany it as it does with any surgical procedure. Anesthesiologists and pain management specialists, also part of the Joint Replacement Centre team, work with each patient to control pain. Many factors, including your tolerance for pain, physical condition and level of activity prior to your surgery will impact the level of pain you may experience.

Major surgery on a joint may take two or three hours in the operating room. Getting full range of motion, strength and flexibility back in that joint after surgery usually takes months. That’s where pre-operative exercise and education and post-operative physiotherapy programs come in – to ensure you’re physically and emotionally prepared for surgery, and to maximize your recovery after surgery. Together, such programs are among the most important determinants in the success of your surgery. We also do offer home physiotherapy facilities for better rehabilitation.

It’s impossible to predict how long a new joint will last, since factors such as age, weight, activity level and bone strength determine the final outcome. If your new joint loosens over time, it may be necessary to repeat the surgery. It’s likely that your new joint will bring you years of pain-free activity. With the new materials and components, most people have a 90 percent or greater success rate at 20 years after surgery.

If you look in the literature, generally around 95 percent of people do very well with hip or knee replacements. These are some of the more reliable procedures we do. Still, I like to try the conservative things first because there can be significant complications.

If a knee is infected the patient is first given antibiotics. If the infection does not clear up, the implant will have to be taken out and the patient is scheduled for revision surgery. The original components are removed and a block of polyethylene cement treated with antibiotics (known as a spacer block) is inserted into the knee joint for six weeks. During this time the patient is also treated with intravenous (I.V.) antibiotics. After a minimum of six weeks, new knee components are implanted.

You may feel some numbness in the skin around your incision. You also may feel some stiffness, particularly with excessive bending activities. Improvement of knee motion is a goal of total knee replacement, but restoration of full motion is uncommon. The motion of your knee replacement after surgery is predicted by the motion of your knee prior to surgery. Most patients can expect to nearly fully straighten the replaced knee and to bend the knee sufficiently to go up and down stairs and get in and out of a car. Kneeling is usually uncomfortable, but it is not harmful. Occasionally, you may feel some soft clicking of the metal and plastic with knee bending or walking. These differences often diminish with time and most patients find these are minor, compared to the pain and limited function they experienced prior to surgery.

Getting full range of motion, strength and flexibility back in that joint after surgery usually takes months. That’s where pre-operative exercise and education and post-operative physiotherapy programs come in – to ensure you’re physically and emotionally prepared for surgery, and to maximize your recovery after surgery. Together, such programs are among the most important determinants in the success of your surgery.

Even though you may increase your activity level after a knee replacement, you should avoid high-demand or high-impact activities. You should definitely avoid running or jogging, contact sports, jumping sports, and high impact aerobics.
You should also try to avoid vigorous walking or hiking, skiing, tennis, repetitive lifting exceeding 50 pounds, and repetitive aerobic stair climbing. The safest aerobic exercise is biking (stationary or traditional) because it places very little stress on the knee joint.

With newer minimally invasive technologies using FIFO (fast in Fast out), post surgery you need to be in hospital for 1-2 days in single knee and 2-3 days for both knees.

It depends on your profession. If a patient has a sedentary or desk job, they may return to work in approximately 3-6 weeks. If your work is more labor intensive, patients may require up to 3 months before they can return to full duty. In some cases, more or less time is necessary.

People can travel on an airplane six weeks after their surgery. During flying, exercise your calf muscles and ankles frequently. Also, get up and walk the aisle of the airplane to avoid the possibility of blood clots. Check with your surgeon about taking a blood-thinner medication before flying. Wear your white anti-embolism stockings to reduce the risk of blood clots.

For a replacement operation on the right leg, it is wise to wait a four to six weeks and after you have stopped taking medications that impede your driving ability. By that time, you have control of your reflexes, making driving safe.

If your waterproof dressing has been unstained for a 24-hour period and there is no drainage, then you can shower. You should avoid immersing your incision under water. When drying the incision, pat the incision dry, do not rub it.

Even though you may increase your activity level after a knee replacement, you should avoid high-demand or high-impact activities. You should definitely avoid running or jogging, contact sports, jumping sports, and high impact aerobics.
You should also try to avoid vigorous walking or hiking, tennis, repetitive lifting exceeding 50 pounds, and repetitive aerobic stair climbing. The safest aerobic exercise is biking (stationary or traditional) because it places very little stress on the knee joint.

Joint replacement surgery for arthritis is considered a treatment of last resort. But even though replaced joints may not last forever, the weight, activity, and implant type have the most significant impact on how long a knee replacement will last. Some strenuous activities, including impact sports, and any activity requiring running and jumping can create stress on the implants that may lead to early failure of the implanted joint.