Knee Replacement

What Is Total Knee Replacement Surgery?

Knee replacement surgery may be considered when arthritis limits your everyday activities such as walking and bending, when pain continues while resting, or stiffness in your knee limits your ability to move or lift your leg. Knee replacement may be recommended only after careful diagnosis of your joint problem. It is time to consider surgery if you have little pain relief from anti-inflammatory drugs or other treatments, such as physical therapy, do not relieve knee pain.

Knee replacement is a surgical procedure — performed in the US since the 1960s — in which a diseased or damaged joint is replaced with an artificial joint called a prosthesis. Made of metal alloys and high grade plastics (to mimic the function of bone and cartilage, respectively), the prosthesis is designed to move just like a healthy human joint. Over the years, knee replacement techniques and instrumentation have undergone countless improvements. Today, knee replacement is one of the safest and most successful types of major surgery; in over 90% of cases it is complication-free and results in significant pain relief and restoration of mobility.

Benefits of Total Knee Replacement Surgery?

Knee Replacement surgery helps more than 500,000 Americans each year to relieve their knee pain, ¹ and get back to enjoying normal, everyday activities.

Success Rates

For the vast majority of patients, joint replacement can be successful in providing relief from pain and improved mobility for many years. According to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, knee replacement procedures have been found to result in significant restoration of function and reduction of pain in 90% to 95% of patients.¹

¹ American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons website, http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00389.