What Is Knee Replacement Success
The best study to date performed on knee replacement is a 2015 RCT that compared knee replacement to physical therapy . 100 patients with moderate to severe knee osteoarthritis were randomized to undergo total knee replacement, or, 12 weeks of conservative treatment including PT, exercises, and diet modification. Here are the results.
- 3 in 4 patients in the physical therapy group decided not to get a knee replacement
- About half of the knee replacement group reported some sort of serious complication
- While the knee replacement group had better functional improvement than physical therapy in some tests, in others there was no difference
- You needed to perform 6 knee replacements before one person reported that they had at least 15% better function. This is called an NTT of 6. NTT stands for the number needed to treat.
To learn more about this study and what NTT is please click on the video below.
Knee Manipulation Procedure What To Expect
If you have recently undergone a knee replacement surgery and your regular postoperative physical therapy exercises do not seem to increase your range of motion, your doctor might recommend you knee manipulation surgery.
Knee manipulation is performed under general or epidural anesthesia. Prior to joint manipulation and ice pack is applied to the affected knee to prepare the tissues for the procedure for approximately 5 minutes. After that your doctor will perform the actual knee manipulation by forcing your knee to bend or flex and break up the scar tissue around the joint preventing the proper movement.
The actual knee manipulation takes very little time, but the recovery, on the other hand, includes grueling aggressive and rather painful physical therapy to increase flexibility and range of motion in your knee. Its absolutely crucial for you to stick to the knee exercise regimen to gain at least 110 degree knee bend to perform your daily activities like walking, doing steps and getting up from a sitting position.
Knee manipulation might help restore the flexibility of your knee joints if you commit to stringent physical therapy exercise program and follow all your doctors orders.
You may also consider additionally to try alternative treatment such as visceral manipulation procedure.
How To Avoid Knee Replacement: A Quickstart Guide
Your knee pain initially was intermittent and mild. Unfortunately, It is now constant and debilitating. Your doctor recommends knee replacement surgery. What is the knee composed of? What are the most common knee injuries? What is knee replacement surgery? What are the different types of knee replacements? What is knee replacement surgery success? What are the 12 most common complications associated with knee replacement surgery? What regenerative treatment options exist? How to avoid knee replacement? Lets dig in.
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Tips To Help Your Patients Avoid Joint Replacement Surgery
These 5 tips will help your patients keep their joints strong:
Tip #4 Keep Moving On Your Knee
This may sound counterintuitive but moving is important for the joint, even if youre in pain. A sedentary lifestyle will only add to your discomfort and more than likely youll gain weight if you arent moving.
When I spent my time running, playing basketball and softball I found that my range of motion in my knee decreased.
I would occasionally get on a bicycle and find that it was painful to do a full rotation with the pedal using my right knee.
The more I rode the bike, the range of motion increased and the pain decreased. It is important to exercise a bad knee but includes stretching activities and other activities that challenge your range of motion.
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/5how To Perform This Exercise
For performing the exercise, participants sat on a chair with one end of an exercise band wrapped around their ankle. The other end of the band was fixed behind a door to serve as an anchor. The participants were not allowed to grab the band. Each rep was for eight seconds- three for extending the leg, one-second pause at the top, four seconds for lowering the leg.
The Hip & Knee Specialist Who Helped 90% Of His Patients Avoid Surgery
THE Hip & Knee SpecialistAnd although I was known for truly excellent surgical technique, I was also known for operating on less than ten per cent of the patients referred to me. I was able to treat more than 90% of my referrals with conservative measures, that avoided surgery. mustunnecessary.scientifically proven options,.alsoI was a patient I’ve been able to treat myself with the proven conservative methods that I teach in my book, HOW TO AVOID KNEE SURGERYknowwithout surgery
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When The Scar Heals
- Push & Pull: Imagine that you have divided the scar into sections 2 finger widths apart. Place 2 fingers in the left most section and move it in all directions of a clock . Where ever the scar feels stuck hold this position for 60 seconds. You will feel a strong pulling or light burning. Then move to the next section until you have massaged the whole length of the scar. When the top layers of skin move more freely try to press a little deeper to get to a deeper layer of the scar.
- Skin Rolling: Pinch the skin on either side of the scar, lifting the skin up. Start at either end and move forward and backward, rolling and raising the skin as you move. A free scar bulges upward, a stuck scar will dimple.
- Stroking along the Scar:Massage the scar tissue by working it with a rubbing motion along the grain. You can move your fingers apart along the length of the scar as if you are trying to make the scar longer.
- Plucking: Put your index finger on one side and thumb on the other side of the scar. Try and lift scar up, separating it from the underlying tissues. If the skin slips out of your hands, you may not be ready for this stage.
Massage Tips
The sensation you feel when you massage your scar is one of strong pulling or light burning, NOT sharp pain. Sharp pain is as if you cut your fingers with a knife. Scar massage should NOT feel like that.
Massaging scar tissue has many benefits. Here are of the main reasons to regularly scar massage :
How Can You Avoid Knee Surgery
We tend to think of surgery as a painful, but safe, solution to many ills. We think it so safe, that theres an entire industry of elective surgeries.
But the truth is, surgery always comes with risk. I recently read about a patient who died due to an infection contracted while getting a face lift. There is always risk involved in surgery.
Now its true that some surgeries are riskier than others. Its harder to operate on a heart or brain than a leg. And some people have greater risk than others. Diabetes or a history of heart trouble, for instance, up the odds that something will go wrong.
Thats why its important, before any surgery, to ask how high your personal risk is. And you have to weigh that against the benefit. When it comes to joint replacement surgery, the risk is usually higher than the reward demands.
On top of that, though we dont think of it this way, joint replacement is a temporary fix. Most replacement joints have a shelf-life of around 20 yearsbut sometimes much less. If youre having surgery at 59, youre most likely going to have to go through the whole process again, at a more advanced age.
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Ways To Prevent The Need For Knee Replacement Surgery
January 14, 2020 by Herman Botero, MD
Were happy to help any patient that walks through our doors that is an ideal candidate for partial or total knee replacement surgery, but in a perfect world, peoples knees would stay healthy long into their golden years. As with any medical condition, prevention is preferred to treatment, so in todays blog, were going to share some ways you can help reduce your risk of needing a knee replacement operation in the future.
First Speak To Your Doctor
Knowledge is power. The more you know about your condition and the sooner you know it, the more treatment options youâll have. Osteoarthritis is a progressive disease, so getting a proper diagnosis is key to knowing how to slow it down. Speak to your doctor about your symptoms and to work out the best treatment plan for you. Early intervention can limit the effects of osteoarthritis on your life and help you maintain an active, independent lifestyle.
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Reasons Why Scar Tissue Management Is Important
Once scar tissue develops, its essential to work on promoting healthy tissue as soon as possible before possible problems arise. Remodeling the scar makes it so the injured tissue can tolerate the stress and forces the body encounters every day from regular activity. Tissue remodeling can help in three ways:
- Improve range of motion in surrounding joints and muscles
- Restore normal mobility and function
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The Magic Of The Knee Extensor Exercise
The trial participants didnt use the knee extension machine like the one in the image above. Instead, all participants sat on a chair with an exercise band wrapped around their ankle and fixed the other end of the band behind a door to serve as an anchor. Much simpler and cheaper.
The participants were not able to grab a yellow band and quickly crank out three sets of ten. The exercise needed to be challenging.
The participants were instructed to find the right amount of tension influenced by band color and the length of the band relative to the chair and wall positions that caused failure at 12 reps. They then completed three sets of twelve reps with each rep lasting eight seconds three seconds for extending the leg, one second pause at the top, four seconds for lowering the leg.
Thats it.
Yes.
Quadriceps strength increased in all three groups, but thats not the most interesting finding.
There was no difference between the three groups. Doing a single exercise only twice a week led to the same improvements in knee strength and greater improvements in knee pain and functional outcome questionnaires compared to four and six times a week.
Two times a week was the winner.
Does this mean I barely need to exercise?
The study is not looking at muscle mass, cardiovascular health, bone mineral density, or any other health benefit exercise provides. You cant do one exercise twice a week to get in shape. A single exercise can, however, provide some benefits.
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Tips To Avoid Or Delay Tkr Surgery: Total Knee Replacement Alternatives
I tried to avoid knee replacement for many years. In this article, I share my personal research along with the advice I received from doctors and knee suffering friends.
If something wouldnt have a negative effect on my overall health, I was willing to try new ideas for relieving pain and avoiding knee replacement. I hope some of these ideas might help others that are seeking pain relief and alternatives to knee replacement.
What Can I Do If I Am On A Waiting List And Still Have Pain
Your doctor or surgeon will make a plan with you on the things you can do when you are on a surgery waiting list. They may refer you to an physiotherapist to assess your mobility and independence and an occupational therapist to help you get on with your daily activities. You may also need to take pain relief medicines to help cope with your pain while waiting for surgery. If you are overweight or obese, losing weight helps to remove the extra strain on your knees. Your doctor may also recommend suitable exercises for you to help maintain your mobility.
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Weight Loss And Knee Pain
Speaking of stress, losing weight is a powerful way to decrease the stress on your joints. When you take a step, the impact of your weight is three to six times greater than your actual weight. So a 10-pound loss means a 30-60 pound reduction in joint stress.
Find an aerobic exercise that can safely get you sweating. Swimming is a fabulous workout that is generally safe for all your joints.
Knee Replacement Alternatives To Consider
Crunching sounds as you climb stairs, chronic aching and swelling: Knee osteoarthritis is a real pain. If youre suffering with it, you may be considering surgery.
Getting a knee replacement is one approach, but you may not need surgery, at least not right away. And some patients cannot undergo knee replacement surgery for various reasons. Other people with knee pain are too young for a knee replacement the artificial knee is only likely to last 15 or 20 years, after which the person may need revision surgery.
There are several things you can try first, on your own or with a professionals help, that can help with knee pain and even delay the need for replacement.
Arthritis doesnt go away, but there are things you can do to lessen the pain and stay more active.
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The 5 Best Exercises To Avoid Getting A Knee Replacement
I dont know many people who want to get a knee replacement. Most older adult and masters athletes we see actively try to avoid it. While the common phrase of the great depression, Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without works well for clothes, it shouldnt apply to our joints. Instead we should, Use it, take care of it, or replace it and hope it works. In our society, we are brutal to our knees.
According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, over 600,000 knee replacement surgeries are done in the US, each year. And each year the average age is getting younger and younger to the point that now 50% of those getting knee replacements are under 65 years old.
Why is this? Are we just more active than our parents or grandparents?
Could be. I would also argue that we dont train or train properly to protect and preserve our knees.
The knee is an interesting joint, unlike the hip or shoulder which is a very stable joint because the end of the bone fits snugly into a perfect receiving cup , because its main stability comes from muscles, ligaments, and tendons. There really is no bony structure to have it move well. What this means is that if you have muscle weakness or imbalances you can alter how the joint moves and can cause some unnecessary wear and tear.
How A Single Exercise Can Prevent Knee Surgery
Exercise is medicine, but have you ever wondered how much exercise is needed to heal the body?
Studies show exercise is a powerful tool for treating knee pain and delaying or preventing future surgery. As a physical therapist, I have witnessed these benefits firsthand. Patients destined for the knife are able to delay and sometimes permanently postpone surgery through exercise.
In each case, I work with the patient to develop a comprehensive, long-term exercise plan to build the bodys resilience. In each case, I have to determine what type and how much exercise is needed.
A recent study looked at how little exercise can be used to ward off surgery.
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When Is Surgery A Good Option
Most people with knee pain don’t need surgery. However, surgery is a good option and is offered when the treatment options above don’t work. Usually, knee surgery will be recommended by your doctor if:
- your knee hurts most of the time and stops you from sleeping
- you are unable to carry out daily activities
- your knee pain is making you depressed
- you become dependent due to your knee pain
- your knee keeps giving way or locking up
- the treatment options above don’t work for you.
Know Which Activities To Avoid
Avoiding repetitive joint-loading tasks such as kneeling, squatting and heavy lifting can help to delay the onset of osteoarthritis, and therefore decrease your likelihood of requiring knee replacement surgery in the future. If your usual routine involves some degree of kneeling or heavy-lifting â activities like gardening and wrangling the grandkids âspeak to your GP or physio about a targeted strengthening program so you can keep doing the things you love..
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