Time for knee replacement surgery

doweshowbellyad=0; Dr. Uttam Garg (TOI Photo) Dr Garg is an Arthroscopic and Arthroplasty surgeon and elaborating upon the issue he says, ���Osteoarthritis occurs when the cartilages in your joints wear down over the years. It can affect any joint in your body; however it most commonly affects the joints in your hands, hips, knees and spine. Pain, swelling and stiffness of joints are the cardinal symptoms of this condition.Osteoarthritis can be treated in the initial stages but in advanced stages only treatment remains, is replacement of joints.���
So how can one decide if he or she is a candidate for a total knee replacement operation? ���YOu are the boss, you decide.One might need a knee replacement if the joint pain is excruciating, consequentially impairing daily routine. If the pain also affects your sleep and is lasting despite taking medication and ample rest; you are a candidate for an operation,��� informs Dr Garg. Further adding to it he says, ���Progressive stiffness with pain should also alert you. In fact, the more pain you have the greater are the chances that the operation will be a success.���
However, the doctor also tells that one can heave a sigh of relief if he or she does not suffer from such extreme conditions. ���If the pain doesn���t last for long and is manageable with proper medication and rest, you can relax. But it should not be neglected,��� he cautions. But will it be wise on the part of an ideal candidate for knee replacement, to wait for sometime? Dr Uttam answers, ���If you are suffering from slowly progressing idiopathic osteoarthritis of the knee joint (wearing out disease of the knee joint), you can afford to wait for a while. But if you observe increasing contracture in your knee, increasing instability, or wasting of the musculature around the knee, then you should not wait. If at all one waits, that period should be utilised to strengthen the muscles around both the knees.��� Dr Garg also cautions that if you wait for too long the functionality of your knee and your general health are likely to decline. The operation results in patients waiting too long are worse.��� But can osteoarthritis of the knee improve without operation? ���In contrast to the osteoarthritis of the hip joints, osteoarthritis of the knee is less forgiving and deteriorates more often with time,��� he avers.
And what about waiting for bio-engineered knees? ���The bio - engineering science certainly makes a very good progress in preparing living cartilage tissues but its utility in osteoarthritic knees is yet not well established and is not convincing enough .��� That said, are their ways to delay the progression of the disease? ���Yes, this can be done but only in early cases. Early prognosis also helps to increase the life of a joint by a few more years.���
And before we could sign off Dr Uttam Garg also told us about having realistic expectation from the outcome of the surgery. ���The total knee joint will relieve your pain and restore a great deal of function in your destructed knee, but it will never be as good as a naturally healthy knee joint.