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Reasons For Considering Joint Replacement Surgery
Do you often complain of joint pain, especially of hips and knees? Your pain medicines are not working anymore? Then perhaps it is time for you to consider for a more reliable treatment for the same. Orthopedic clinics often find people approaching them with a complaint of intolerable pain and discomfort. At some point, it becomes an utter necessity to operate at the earliest convenience.
So, today we offer some tips on how to determine when you should consider getting joint replacement surgery. Though the symptoms and difficulties might vary from person to person, the following symptoms usually remain the same.
1. Joint Pain That Keeps You Up At Night
Several times the joint pain becomes more intense during the night as compared to the day time. So, in case your joint pain becomes more intense at night that wakes you up or makes it difficult for you to fall asleep, its time for you to consider joint replacement surgery.
2. You Feel Pain While Taking Stairs
In case you are avoiding stairs as much as you can because of joint pain, you should pay more attention to it. Climbing stairs exert more strain of the joint as compared to walking on plains. Now every individual will be tired to climb too many stairs, but you should seek the medical opinion if you are experiencing pain, even for a climb of 4-5 stairs.
3. You Have Trouble Getting Up
Do you find it difficult to stand up easily, every time you sit on the floor or chair or even on the bed? You might experience pain in either one or both legs (ankle, heel, knee anywhere) and need some support to balance yourself. This is yet another alarming sign that indicates you to consider the joint replacement surgery.
4. You Have Trouble Walking
This is a severe case which usually happens if the knee pain is chronic. In simple words it means, this stage arises only when you ignore your everyday pain and discomfort for a long period. You might even be limping a little from time to time and swelling around the joints is quite common as well. Consider permanent cure immediately if rest or medicine does not work.
5. Pain That Affects Your Everyday Life
In case having a repetitive episode of pain is stopping you from doing your routine work; like going to the grocery, to the workplace or a park nearby, it is a big issue that needs to be addressed as soon as possible. If left untreated, the thing will become worse.
6. Your Pain Management Or Medication Is No Longer Working
Applying ointment, hot water bags, tieing up crepe bandages and drinking hot milk might work for a short period, but they are not the solution for joint pain in severe cases. Moreover, for many, even the over-the-counter drugs aren’t that effective either. It is recommended to consider surgery for such individuals.
Joint replacement surgeries work wonders if they are availed from experts of some good orthopedic clinics. It not only helps to get relief but also improves mobility that contributes towards making a healthy living ahead. In case you too are suffering from the same, come at ILS Hospitals to seek consultation from expert orthopedics and avail joint replacement surgery.
Knee Problems That Require Replacement Surgeries
Long walks during some trip or an exceptionally busy day are certain to cause some discomfort in the skeletal system. Its maximum impact can be seen on the lower extremities, namely the knee and heel joints. This kind of pain and discomfort becomes inevitable during old age and in case of accident or illness that has affected the Musco-skeletal system. In fact, the number of patients seeking ortho and joint replacement surgeries these days are alarmingly high. However, there are several individuals who are dealing with such difficulties every day without being aware of the fact that most of the times it can be resolved using advance ortho replacement surgery.
Today, we are listing some knee problem that might require ortho replacement surgery, which can help improve such discomforts.
1. Knee Osteoarthritis
This illness is characterized by decaying of bone density alarmingly. As a result, it starts to make the bone structure much fragile and leads to pain and discomfort. It affects everyday activities like climbing stairs, bending, walking and sometimes even sitting and getting up. For such patients, knee replacement is a good treatment option, but along with the surgery, the patients need to modify their diet and lifestyle a little as well. This aims to strengthen the bones and mitigate the risks of bone fracture in the future.
2. Knee Effusion
Synovial fluid is a natural, thick lubricant present in the cavities of the joint. It eases movement in that region, nourishes the cartilage along with protecting and supporting the knee joints. When this fluid fails to perform its function, it leads to knee inflammation, pain, and other discomforts. It might require extensive treatment to ensure complete care for the same including surgery.
3. Accidental Trauma To Knee
Any accident, let it be a small fracture or major clash, can affect the skeletal system. It is crucial to seek treatment if any persistent discomfort is noted. In case the accidental trauma is causing some major issue, particularly in the knee joint, the doctor might advise knee replacement surely, but only after confirming the same using imaging diagnostic screenings. It is crucial to seek treatment on time, as untreated discomfort can cause some long term damage as well.
4. Bowing In Or Out
Any Musco-skeletal disease such as bowing in or out might require knee replacement surgery as well. Whether it is a birth defect or has occurred over time, it is crucial to stop suffering and evaluate your treatment options to correct it permanently.
5. Knee Inflammation
Knee inflammation is characterized by stiffness of the knee joint due to inflammation in the region. It causes pain, immobility, and discomfort. It can be resolved with mild mediation, if the inflammation is on the skin, typically over the joint. But it is due to something that is happening internally, often the knee replacement surgery might be considered.
Knee joint pain can simply on set over the course of older age. Knee replacement surgery can be advised when the knee pain seems to be an issue due to many other causes as well. This is particularly true if the knee pain does not resolve with medication and starts interfering with everyday work and activities. It is crucial to try to find out the exact cause and treatment of the knee pain.
In case, you are dealing with any of this, it’s time to consider getting an ortho and joint replacement surgery. Remember, the sooner you get it treated, the better the result it has.
A Brief Introduction of Arthritis
Arthritis is a medical term that can be used to denote any illness or disorder that incur on the joints. The Greek origin of the term literally means inflammation of joints (artho means joint and itis means inflammation). It is mainly characterized by stiffness, numbness, pain, redness, swelling, immobility in the affected joints. Occasionally, it also offers some nearby internal or external organs. Several orthopedic clinics across India provides care and treatment for the same.
Major kinds of Arthritis
There are more than 100 types of joint pain disorders that come under the umbrella term arthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis are the two most common types. The prior is an autoimmune disorder which affects predominantly the feets and hands. The latter one is mostly acquired with age and affects the knees, fingers, and hips. Their common types of arthritis include lupus, gout, and septic arthritis etc.
Treatment of Arthritis
To treat a minor arthritic ailment, the weakened joint is exposed to heat and ice pack alternatively. Mild medication with paracetamol and ibuprofen is used for temporary relief, but joint replacement is often the ultimate solution to address a case with severe bone decay and pain. Moreover, several times, a person experience joint pain as they gradually begin to gain body weight. It is an obvious side effect of obesity as the joint begin to endure excessive weight and pressure of excessive weight. In such cases, exercise and weight loss can help with the condition, significantly.
Symptoms of Arthritis
As already mentioned, there are over 100 types of arthritis, so the exact symptoms depend upon the particular type of consideration. However, there are few common symptoms of the same, which are as follows-
- Muscle stiffness or pain
- Difficult to move the hand or feet to full extent
- Fatigue and tiredness
- Tenderness and stiffness
- Inflammation and pain on joints
- Loss of flexibility
- Weakness of muscle
Effect of Arthritis on Daily Life
Most of the arthritis is not a life-threatening illness and gives the patient an immense time to address it. But after living with a prolonged period with an arthritis disorder influences the quality of life up to a large extent.
Thus on this World Arthritis Day, we encourage every individual to make sure to seek treatment for a persistent join pain without delaying for it to become more complex.
Everything You Should Know About Partial Knee Replacement
Partial knee replacement, also referred as uni-compartmental knee replacement, is a surgical approach to cure severe arthritis of knee. Earlier, almost every patient suffering from arthritis went for total knee replacement; wherein the entire portion of infected cartilage along with a layer of functional one is carved off the knee and replaced with metal and plastic implants.
But in case of partial knee replacement, only the infected portion of the knee is removed and resurfaced. It is ideal for those patients whose osteoarthritis is restricted to single compartment.
Structure of the knee
Need of knee surgery arises when the cartilage protecting the knee wears off gradually. This can be observed either in the entire knee joint or merely in single area. The knee is comprised of three major compartments, namely:
- Lateral compartment, which is the outer part
- Medial compartment, which is the inside of the knee
- Patellofemoral compartment, between kneecap and thighbone
How diagnosis is carried out?
The doctor estimates the extent of damage of bones and cartilage either by X-rays or Magnetic Resonance Imaging.
How partial knee replacement is carried out?
In this surgical approach, the surgeon diagnoses each bone and observes the limit of the osteoarthritis; and replaces the damaged compartment with plastic or metal implant called prosthetic, which can mimic the natural movements up to a large extent. The partial knee replacement aims to restore as much as healthy bones and cartilage as possible.
Advantages of partial knee replacement over total knee replacement
Partial knee replacement is gaining popularity among doctors and patients because of the numerous benefits it offers. Due to smaller incision, the patient needs shorter hospital stay and experiences lesser pain after surgery. The recovery period becomes comparatively faster. Since a large extent of healthy bones and cartilage is left intact, the patients experience more natural movement of knee as compared to total knee replacement.
Ideal candidate for partial knee replacement
As per doctors of ILS Hospitals, if an individual is suffering from osteoarthritis and no other medical treatment is helping to soothe the pain, then this orthopedic replacement can be considered as the ideal solution. In order to qualify for it, the arthritis must be finite to only one compartment. If a patient is suffering from knee stiffness and ligament damage, they can also be considered for this treatment.
With proper diagnosis and treatment, partial knee replacement demonstrates successful and long lasting result for patients of several age groups.