Try These Before Opting A Total Knee Replacement

Wednesday 25 September 2019

Try These Before Opting A Total Knee Replacement

Millions of people suffer from knee arthritis. They will experience difficulties like pain, stiffness, which eventually decreases the activity level and quality of life. Most of the patients opt for total knee replacement as a solution to this problem. Though this is the most effective treatment for complete pain relief, it should be considered only as a last resort. There are other minimally invasive methods and treatment procedures that you can try before choosing a knee replacement surgery.

Following are some of the alternates that you can opt for

Weight loss: Reducing weight can help you to reduce knee pain. Your knee will have to bear more force if you become overweight. Exercise can help you achieve your goal while strengthening your muscles and reducing pain.

Physical therapy: Knee arthritis often makes the knee joint painful and stiff, creating difficulty in movement. An expert physical therapist can increase the strength of the muscles supporting the knee and reduce pain through appropriate physiotherapy techniques. They use ice and heat, electrical nerve stimulation, and many more therapies to increase blood flow to the knee to decrease the stiffness. It is suggested to seek the help of a physiotherapist rather than doing it on your own.

Medications: There are several medications for knee arthritis that have been proven to help. However, physicians try to limit the number of these medications. Over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs) can be quite effective in reducing the difficulties of knee arthritis. Supplements like glucosamine sulfate and hyaluronic acid are also successful in reducing the pain and stiffness caused due to knee arthritis.

Injections: Knee injection or hyaluronic acid lubricates the knee joint and helps to improve shock absorption and reduce the inflammation. These injections can drastically reduce the stiffness, pain, and swelling associated with knee arthritis. This method is often effective, provides long-lasting relief, and improves mobility and reduces pain.

Arthroscopic Surgery: Arthroscopic surgery is a minimally invasive type of knee surgery performed with a camera inserted through small incisions to repair cartilage or meniscus tears inside the knee, or to remove bone or cartilage fragments. This is often suggested to patients who have symptoms such as sharp pain, catching or locking of the knee.

Osteotomy: Osteotomy is recommended for younger patients with deformity or damage only on one side of the knee. In this surgical procedure, the surgeon cuts your shin or thigh bone to shift the load away from the arthritic area of the knee. However, osteotomy might make it difficult for patients to undergo successful knee replacement surgery at a later time if needed.

When it comes to choosing a treatment for knee arthritis, you should consider all possible alternatives to knee replacement surgery with the help of an expert surgeon. However, delaying necessary surgery causes additional long term complications.