Knee arthritis is a condition of severe wear of cartilage in the knee joint.
The picture shows how a normal cartilage looks and the surface becomes rough after arthritis.
This leads to difficult walking, instability in walking, walking on uneven surface is difficult, climbing upstairs and downstairs is difficult. Also knee bending is affected causing difficulty in squatting and sitting cross legged.
I advise knee replacement to my patients who have following difficulty –
I perform Knee Replacement using a less common muscle sparing approach. In this technique the muscle is not cut while performing surgery. The medical term for that approach is ‘Sub Vastus Approach’.
Computer Navigation is used by me for difficult cases to provide accuracy of bone cuts. This is very helpful in patients who have severe deformity.
Robotic surgery is advanced method of performing replacement where cuts are taken by robotic hand after applying principles of computer navigation.
This is a special kind of implant used for patients who are young as well as for patients who are having allergy to metal. They are helpful as the wear rate is low and provides longer implant longevity.
Ceramic implants have the longest mentioned survival rate up to 25 years due to its smooth and hard material, thus causing low wear rate. I use ceramic implants for younger age preferably for patients less than 65 years of age. There are some studies which suggest ceramic implants have early loosening when used in older age with poor bone quality due to osteoporosis.
Knee exercises started immediately after surgery.
Stitch removal at 14 days.
Immediate post operative walking with walker.
Wean off walker after 2 weeks.
Return to normal pre-disease exercise level by 8-12 weeks.