5 Signs You May Need Knee Replacement Surgery
If your knee is causing significant problems in your day to day life, you may be suffering from a condition which could be helped with knee replacement surgery. Victorian Bone and Joint Specialists has knee surgeons in Melbourne who regularly assess patients for knee conditions and can recommend knee surgery when required.
Jarrad Stevens and David Slattery are knee replacement specialists in Melbourne who perform knee surgery on patients of all ages with multiple conditions. Knee arthritis causes significant problems for many people. Here, we discuss signs that you may be ready for a knee replacement.
1. Pain
Patients who have constant pain and pain at night in the knees should be assessed by a knee replacement specialist to diagnose the cause and provide some solutions to help patients with their pain.
Pain that interferes with sleep or pain that leads to the knee giving way can be assessed by a knee replacement specialist with a view to knee surgery.
Rest, ice, pain relief medications and review by your local doctor are often a good first line treatment. Your doctor may want to refer you to a knee specialist in Melbourne.
2. The knee is not moving normally
If your knee is becoming arthritic and no longer moving normally, this can have a major impact on how you go about your daily activities. Stiff knees or bent knees can make walking very difficult. No longer being able to bend to pick objects up off the floor or put shoes and socks on properly can really affect how you go about your day. Most people that live in Melbourne have an active lifestyle, and a knee joint that does not move freely may need the attention of a specialist knee replacement surgeon.
3. Other treatments are no longer working
Most people will try ways to help their arthritic knee get by. When physiotherapy, pain relief medications, weight loss and other alternative treatments are no longer working, specialist knee replacement surgeons may be able to help. It is normally advised that patients should try different ways of dealing with their arthritis before contemplating surgery. Although knee replacement surgery is often used to treat arthritis of the knee, there are other treatments that the team at Victorian Bone and Joint Specialists can help you with. (link to injection link to RF ablation)
4. X-rays that show advanced arthritis
For knee replacements to be successful, our specialist knee replacement surgeons will look at x-rays of your knees to determine the amount and site of arthritis. This often helps in predicting the success of the surgery and the type of knee replacement required. Our surgeons at Victorian Bone and Joint Specialists may organise specialist x-ray views of your knee. MRI and CT scan are sometimes used to assess the arthritis in knees to determine if knee surgery is advisable.
5. Quality of life
Modern surgery is aimed at helping people improve their quality of life. If your knees are interfering with your enjoyment in doing the things you love, the surgeons at Victorian Bone and Joint Specialists can help assess the cause and guide you for treatment that is aimed at helping you – sometimes this is surgery, and sometimes there are other alternatives.
Thanks to technological advancements in surgery, patients in Melbourne are able to benefit from the use of robotic knee surgery and partial joint replacements. This means that our specialists at VBJS can manage specific areas of arthritis in your knee without replacing the parts which are still functioning well.
