Articles Tagged with Defective Knee

In the past two decades, the number of patients undergoing a total knee replacement procedure each year has gone up considerably.  As the number of surgeries has increased, there have been many advancements in the techniques used by surgeons to perform the total knee replacements. The recovery time, too, has lessened and the chance of success has increased.

mhANPeMAccording to a recent news feature from ABC, there are certain things that can be done to increase the chances of success even more, so as to avoid the chance that the device will fail after the procedure to the greatest extent possible.  Continue reading

Getting a total knee replacement is a big decision.  There is often a lot of pain following the surgery and an arduous rehabilitation period that can keep a patient out of work for weeks while having to go through physical therapy. Unless the patient broke his or her knee in a traumatic accident or attack of some sort, it’s generally considered an elective procedure. But the question becomes weighing the difficulty of coping with chronic and worsening pain versus undergoing a risky surgical operation – and all the recovery problems that may accompany it.

shower-1427304Now, there may be good news for knee replacement patients. A recent news article from Pantagraph indicates patients may be able to hit the showers sooner. There has long existed a fear that showering any sooner than two weeks might increase the likelihood of a post-operative infection.

Granted, the study is small, but it indicates no differences in bacterial swabs from patients who waited two weeks to shower compared with those allowed to shower after about two days.
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In the United States, a total knee replacement operation is among the most commonly performed types of elective surgery, with hundreds of thousands of procedures being done each year.  There is also a trend for younger patients to undergo total knee replacement procedures.

knee-replacement---side-view-1183622-mIn the past, it was mostly an operation done on elderly individuals who have suffered through years of painful osteoarthritis.  These days, with more Americans wanting to lead an active lifestyle, patients who are decades younger are speaking with their doctors about having a total knee replacement.  This is especially true of those who have engaged in long distance running, which is often hard on joints and can lead to arthritis.  The arthritis can cause bone spurs in the knees and that will often cause severe pain and stiffness in the knee, leading to the possible need for a total knee replacement surgery. Continue reading

After having a total knee replacement procedure, there is generally a somewhat long and painful recovery period.  This is especially true in the case of a bilateral total knee replacement.  This is a controversial procedure that involves a surgeon, or even two surgeons, replacing both of a patient’s knees at the same time with an artificial knee implant device.

mhANPeMWhile it is common for a patient to get severe osteoarthritis in both knees at the same time and to ultimately need both knees replaced, many doctors prefer to do the operations on separate occasions.  The reason they prefer this course of action is because even though the total recovery time is doubled, the patient is up and walking around much faster, and this means they are out of the hospital and less likely to get a serious infection.

Patients are also less likely to get a serious clotting disorder known as deep vein thrombosis (DVT), where clots form deep in the veins of the legs and then travel to other parts of the body, where they can cause serious damage and even death. On the other hand, doctors who perform bilateral knee replacement procedures favor the reduced rehabilitation time. Continue reading

In a rather disturbing series of events, as described in a recent article from Syracuse.com, a United States Navy veteran left his Long Island home to go to Florida, so he could undergo a total knee replacement operation. He was 69 years old at the time of his operation.

courtroom-1-1207444-mHe chose to go to Florida because he had a friend there who could help during what he expected to be a somewhat lengthy recovery period. While he was gone, the town had his house demolished with all of this property still inside. Continue reading

A total knee replacement surgery has become among the most common operations in the United States. However, despite the vast number of total knee replacement surgeries performed each year, success and failure still depends on whether a surgeon can get a proper fit for the artificial knee device, according to a recent article from ABC News.

knee-replacement---side-view-1183622-mHowever, a new surgical device being used in U.S. hospitals is helping doctors get a more precise fit for artificial knee implants. The new device is known as Verasense. It is one component of the system that is designed to help orthopedic surgeons while preforming total knee replacement surgery. Continue reading

In the United States alone, there are hundreds of thousands of total knee replacement operations performed each year. Not only are more people getting an artificial knee implanted, more people who are younger are having the surgery than ever before.

pillsMost people are having surgery due to chronic arthritis in which the pain gets so bad that the patient can no longer stand it and opts to have an elective total knee replacement procedure. Arthritis can cause formations around the knee joint that cause pain when the ball and socket interact with each other. The spurs can also chip away at the ball and socket joint to the point where this becomes excruciating. Traditionally, patients would wait until they were much older and could no longer walk without substantial pain before having surgery. Continue reading

According to a recent report from Tech Times, a study has found that, while a total knee replacement procedure seems to the best form of pain relief for patients suffering from severe arthritis, there may be more risks associated with the procedure than even a well-informed patient might realize.

knee-replacement---side-view-1183622-mStudy writers contend while total knee replacement is generally a safe and effect treatment for severe osteoarthritis, some of the safety data being used by the medical community in determining the level of risk was not based upon the most sound research practices. Continue reading

There is not question that people are living longer these days than ever before. However, not only are people living longer, they are able to live more active lifestyles that they could in years past. One of the reasons for this is because of operations like total knee replacements and total hip replacements.

skiing-1371473According to a recent news article from Fox, a 71-year-old man is back on the slopes following a total hip replacement surgery. He was retired and loved to ski. He would be out on the slopes every chance he could get. However, after many years of kayaking, skydiving, and running, has cause serious arthritis in his joints and this joint disease caused him a tremendous amount of pain and suffering as a result of his knee condition. Continue reading

Recently, double knee replacement procedure has been an increasingly common procedure in hospitals throughout the United States. According to a recent article from Wall Street Journal, many people who suffer from osteoarthritis tend to put up with the condition until it gets to a point were it is unbearable and eventually decided to get a total knee replacement.

knee-x-ray-1-391480-mIn the typical case, both knees are stricken with osteoarthritis to the point where they both need to be replaced. This normally involved having the more painful knee replaced, and then going back later for a second operation. A double knee replacement surgery, or bilateral knee replacement, as it is technically called, offers a quicker and more cost effective alternative to having successive traditional knee replacement, but this procedure, while new, has already managed to attract a good deal of controversy.   The reason for the controversy is because some evidence suggests the risks may outweigh the potential benefits. Those who perform the surgery say one of the main benefits is that it does away with the need for a second hospital stay. This reduces the amount of time spent under general anesthesia, which is always a risk, and it also reduces the risk of developing an infection following surgery. No matter how clean a hospital may be, post surgical infection is always a risk.  Another one of the claimed benefits is that it reduces the need for a second complete recovery period. Recovery is a painful and emotionally difficult time for many patients, and not having to do it twice is a benefit. Continue reading

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