We take for granted that we will get around, however when rheumatism or physical injury damages our joints, suddenly our mobility can be taken away or significantly curtailed. Even simple physical activitiess, such as walking up and down stairs, can become a significant challenge or maybe even impossible. Severe pain may become increasingly linked with the difficulty and while pain relief medication and physical therapy may help, the problem may demand surgical intervention.
Medical intervention should be considered as a very last resort, however undergoing knee surgery to repair and repair the damage may be your one remaining usable choice. A knee surgeon will be in a position to correct damage and joint issues resulting from age, injury or birth problems and will employ a selection of treatment options to regain improved mobility and reduce or eliminate joint pain.
An orthopedic surgeon can resurface the worn or damaged bones within the knee (one of the most complex joints in your body) and use synthetic replacements for the cartilage and bone areas which move and work together. This can reduce and eliminate pain for most patients and reduce stiffness for the vast majority of patients. Knee surgery is a frequently undertaken procedure which is well known, extremely safe and produces excellent results for most patients.
One of the best advances in knee surgery has been the entire or total replacement of the knee joint. The first such process took place back in 1968, however since that point the surgery has been refined and perfected to the point where virtually 600,000 knee replacements are undertaken in the US each year with more than 90% and higher chance of success.
The older surgery uses blocks and metal guides to establish where the surgeon must make their surgical incisions and cuts. X-rays are taken before hand to pinpoint the size of the synthetic knee implant the patient requires, and the surgeon’s job is to match these dual variables optimally. It is a testament to the surgical talent of orthopedic surgeons that they are able to do that with a high quality level of confident accuracy however the conventional surgery still relies on a human surgeon’s skill to finely judge this process. As there’s very small margin for a mistake, in a small minority number of patients the balance between the knee implant and placement as it relates to the patient’s own bones and muscle could be slightly out to a degree which is big enough to render the surgery unsuccessful.
This small number of knee replacement surgical failures has pushed the development of surgical technologies which are much more precise and highly accurate. Instead of standard X-rays, a surgeon is now in a position to appraise the form and dimensions of the required implant using 3-dimensional imaging technology which provides a much nearer estimation of the dimensions of the knee implant a patient needs. However , this on it’s own isn’t really enough to promise success as the surgeon must make incisions and remodeling of the existing bone to accommodate the implant optimally.
Automated computer control are now used to provide assistance in the making of surgical incisions and the remodeling of the knee area to accommodate the implant. Using aided navigation provides an outstandingly high level of precision in making surgical incisions and preparing the knee area to accommodate the implant. This ensures for an outstandingly high degree of fit, which in turn means the knee replacement works much more successfully than when relying on a traditional technique. In turn, this provides improved mobility, reduced post-operative rest times and a lot less in undergoing the knee replacement joint surgery.
Check out www.OSC-Ortho.com for more information on knee surgery and maintaining mobility.
categories: knee surgery,knee replacement,joint pain,joint replacement,knee surgeons
