When knee osteoarthritis causes such extensive joint damage that you have ongoing pain and limited mobility, it’s time to consider getting a knee replacement. The board-certified surgeons at Regenerative Orthopaedics and Spine Institute help patients return to an active life by rebuilding the knee joint with a partial or total replacement. In most cases, you can get a knee replacement with minimally invasive surgery so that you’re back at home the same day. To learn more about knee replacements, call the office in Stockbridge or Griffin, Georgia, or request an appointment online today.
The Regenerative Orthopaedics and Spine Institute team recommends a knee replacement when the joint is damaged by advanced osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis develops over years of wear-and-tear that breaks down the cartilage, exposing the bare ends of the bones inside the joint, causing them to rub against one another.
Without cartilage to cushion them, the bones are damaged more and more each day, causing pain, stiffness, and inflammation.
The two kinds of knee replacements are partial and total:
Your knee joint is made up of three compartments — the front of the knee, inside the knee, and outside the joint. If osteoarthritis damages just one compartment, the Regenerative Orthopaedics and Spine Institute team can replace that one area.
When osteoarthritis damages two or three compartments, your provider replaces the entire joint. This procedure is called total knee arthroplasty.
During a partial knee replacement, your provider removes the damaged tissues and replaces the compartment with a metal prosthesis. The healthy cartilage, bone, and ligaments outside the compartment are preserved.
A total knee replacement proceeds in three steps:
Your replacement begins by replacing the end of your femur (thigh bone). Your provider cleans away damaged tissues, cuts off the end of the bone, and restructures the bone to fit the prosthesis. They then place the femoral implant on top of the bone.
This part of the prosthesis is made of metal. It curves over the front and back of the bone, recreating the shape of your natural femur.
Your provider replaces the top of your tibia (shinbone), getting rid of damaged tissues and then cutting off the top of the bone. They create a flat area on the bone that accommodates the prosthesis.
The tibial prosthesis has a stem that goes down the center of the shinbone. Then your provider attaches a flat metal piece to the stem and puts a plastic piece on top of the metal. The plastic piece does the same thing that the cartilage did in your natural joint.
Finally, your provider resurfaces the underside of the patella and secures a plastic liner on the bone.
If you struggle with the pain of knee osteoarthritis, call Regenerative Orthopaedics and Spine Institute or book an appointment online today.