Knee Replacements
Knee arthritis is a common condition that results in up to 1 million GP appointments every year. Knees are one of the most common joints affected by arthritis. Knee arthritis can be a debilitating condition characterised by severe pain especially on activity. It can also disturb your sleep, work and activities you enjoy.
It may be associated with progressive deformity of the knee, stiffness and swelling.​
What treatments are there?
Surgery is often required to treat knee arthritis but there are several more straightforward interventions that should be considered prior to joint replacement surgery.​ These non-operative measures include weight loss, activity modification, pain killers, braces, physiotherapy and joint injections.​ Where these interventions fail then surgery may be required.
​
This includes:
-
Partial Knee Replacement
-
Total Knee Replacement​
Knee Replacement Surgery
The Benefits
Partial Knee Replacements only replace one of the three knee compartments. The advantages of this include a quicker recovery and a more “normal” feeling knee. However, this means that the rest of the knee that hasn’t been replaced can develop arthritis in the future and may require further surgery.
​
Total Knee Replacement replaces all three compartments of the knee - although some surgeons choose not to resurface the patella (kneecap). This reduces your chance of needing further surgery as you cannot develop arthritis in the rest of the knee. However, it is typically associated with a longer recovery and a less “normal” feeling knee.
Knee Replacement Outcomes
Unfortunately, most of us will know someone who is unhappy with their knee replacement. If we look at all knee replacements, 15% or 1 in 6 patients report moderate or severe pain following joint replacement surgery.
​
Often it is not clear why some patients experience difficulty with their knee replacement, however I will work with you to ensure we correct any reversible causes and reduce the impact of others.
Improving Outcomes
Surgeons have developed different techniques to try and improve the outcomes following knee replacement. One such technique is called Kinematic or Individualised Alignment.
This is a patient-specific approach that aims to restore the individual’s anatomy and biomechanics before the onset of arthritis. This is achieved by resurfacing the knee joint to match the patient’s native knee. In the past we fitted the patient to the implant, but this method fits the implant to the patient.
​
This technique requires specialised instruments and implants. I use the Medacta GMK Sphere. This knee replacement and the instruments used to put it in are specifically designed to recreate patients’ anatomy more precisely than standard knee replacements.
Ask me about this technique if this is something you are interested in.