The most common reason for knee replacement surgery is to ease pain caused by arthritis. People who need knee replacement surgery usually have problems walking, climbing stairs and getting up out of chairs. If only one part of the knee is damaged, surgeons often can replace just that part.
People who benefit from total knee replacement often have: Severe knee pain or stiffness that limits everyday activities, including walking, climbing stairs, and getting in and out of chairs. It may be hard to walk more than a few blocks without significant pain and it may be necessary to use a cane or walker.
Doctors do sometimes recommend that people under age 60 wait to undergo a knee replacement procedure, because these artificial joints typically last only about 15 to 20 years. If someone younger gets the procedure, it's likely that the joint will need to be replaced again down the line.
Common symptoms include pain localized to the joint, stiffness, loss of flexibility, a grinding sensation, swelling, feel weaker, and tenderness to touch. In order to make a clinical diagnosis, a physical examination and imaging studies (usually x-rays) are utilized.
Your mobility and recovery may be affected by putting knee surgery off too long. If you are not active due to knee pain, the muscles in your legs will lose strength, slowing your recovery and making physical therapy even more challenging due to loss of muscle mass and mobility.
You can expect some pain and swell for a few months after surgery. Improved surgical techniques and new technology, such as robotic arm-assisted technology, makes the knee replacement recovery process quicker and less painful.
The average recovery time from knee replacement surgery is approximately six months, but it can take roughly 12 months to fully return to physically demanding activities.
As knee arthritis progresses, the knee becomes much looser and more unstable. In some cases, this is mild. In other cases, it is substantial enough that cause the patient to fall. Patients who have bone-on-bone arthritis and are starting to fall because of it should strongly consider surgery.
Recovery is slow
While it's different for everyone and depends on the type of knee surgery you've had, many people are surprised by how long it takes to recover. The time it takes to start doing simple tasks around the home, get back to work and importantly bending your new and improved knee may catch you by surprise.
4 – 6 weeks after surgery
You would be able to walk for 10 minutes without any assisted devices within 4 – 6 weeks of the procedure.
For knees with a limited amount of arthritis and good alignment of the bones, doctors may be able to offer newer treatments that replace cartilage instead of replacing the entire joint. There are several cartilage-regeneration techniques that you may consider and discuss with an orthopaedic surgeon.
Continuing to delay knee replacement surgery can bring about serious consequences, such as the inability to walk, work and perform normal daily tasks. The longer a patient waits to have knee surgery, the more complicated the surgery can become.
It may be time to have knee replacement surgery if you have: Severe knee pain that limits your everyday activities. Moderate or severe knee pain while resting, day or night. Long-lasting knee inflammation and swelling that doesn't get better with rest or medications.
Patients who can walk on level ground without much difficulty, or who only have pain when going up and down stairs, are not good candidates for knee replacement surgery.
There is a range of accepted weight ranges, but the current standard is that anyone obese (greater than 100 pounds over ideal weight or a BMI of roughly 40-45) should not consider joint replacement.
Four to six weeks after surgery
After about a month, your knee strength will improve. Plus, you'll feel more comfortable as your knee pain and swelling decreases. Depending on the type of knee replacement you had and how your recovery has been going, you may rely less or not at all on certain assistive devices.
If you have had a knee replacement and your knee still feels unnatural, this is perfectly normal. It's normal for you to feel this way as recovery from a total knee replacement takes time. This doesn't mean that you can't reach full function or come to accept your knee as a normal part of your body.
Over-the-counter medications — such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others) and naproxen sodium (Aleve) — may help ease knee pain. Some people find relief by rubbing the affected knee with creams containing a numbing agent, such as lidocaine, or capsaicin, the substance that makes chili peppers hot.
A knee replacement is major surgery, so is normally only recommended if other treatments, such as physiotherapy or steroid injections, haven't helped reduce pain or improve mobility.
Knee surgery may temporarily relieve pain from arthritis, but it does not cure the condition.
Overall, patient satisfaction after primary total knee arthroplasty was 81% in our study.
The answer: a resounding yes! In fact, people with knee osteoarthritis who walk for exercise are significantly less likely to go on to develop worse pain, according to a 2022 study published in Arthritis & Rheumatology.
Hylauronic acid is a substance that is naturally present in joints, and functions as a lubricant and a shock absorbent. The idea behind these injections is that they will temporarily restore the natural function of the knee by injecting a substance which will provide cushioning and reduce bone-on-bone contact.