You have been advised total knee replacement and you are confused whether you should really undergo it right away. Thousands of people around the world probably face this dilemma every day.
You may look up the internet, read a few books, consult your family and friends, or take a second opinion about your diagnosis and line of treatment. But still, you are unsure of what decision you should actually take.
The best thing to do before deciding to undergo total knee replacement or not is to talk to yourself first. By personally assessing the condition of your knees, looking at the symptoms, and the discomfort that you have experienced for a certain duration, you will be able to tell whether it is worth undergoing a surgery to put yourself out of the misery.
Total knee replacement is a complex and a tedious procedure, mostly recommended to people suffering from osteoarthritis of the knee, accidental damage to the knee joint, or degenerative changes in the knee joint and surrounding cartilages. Osteoarthritis of the knee is the number one reason why people are required to undergo total knee replacement.
Even with people with osteoarthritis think twice about undergoing total knee replacement, They are concerned about the life after knee replacement. Improvement in pain after the surgery, recovery period, the cost of surgery, side effects of the surgery are some of the concerns that patients typically have.
Factors that indicate that total knee replacement in the solution
There is no single factor that indicates that you really need a knee replacement surgery. Instead, you need to assess a number of factors to figure out when it is time for you to undergo knee replacement.
The following are some of the indicators that suggest that you should decide to undergo knee replacement:
No relief from medications and injections: Medications and lubricating injections fail to work and do not result in any relief from chronic pain.
Failure of physical therapy: Chronic pain persists even after several sessions of physical therapy.
Knee deformation: The deformation of the knee joint in an indication of immediate medical attention. The knees may look bowed towards the outside or the inside.
Persistent pain: The the knee pain persists all the time, recurs frequently and affects you sitting, standing, walking, or running ability, then you may need to consider knee replacement.
Other indications: Morning stiffness in the knees, swollen knees, problems in sleeping at night, increase in knee pain during the rainy season, and knee stiffness after long duration activity.
