Lingering pain in your knee or hip could mean you have arthritis. If the discomfort is so great you rely on taking medications daily, relying on a cane, or giving up an active lifestyle, you may consider a joint replacement. Joint replacement surgery can reduce your pain and get you back to your daily routine.
Typically, total joint replacement is considered for advanced arthritis when other conservative treatment options like activity modification, therapy, anti-inflammatory medications, knee brace or joint injections are not helping anymore. Timely joint replacement surgery can help to maintain or improve your overall physical and mental health, functionality, and quality of life, as indicated by researchers at the National Institute of Health, who studied the impact on those who delayed non-emergent surgeries such as joint replacement during the pandemic.
Dinesh Thawrani, MD, an orthopedic surgeon with The Christ Hospital Physicians who specializes in hip and knee replacement, explains what joint replacement surgery is, when to consider it, and what could happen if you delay the procedure too long.
What is joint replacement surgery?
During joint replacement surgery, also called arthroplasty, a surgeon removes all or part of your damaged or injured joint and replaces it with a new artificial joint. This operation can reduce pain, stiffness, swelling, and instability and improve your range of motion.
“Nobody has to have a joint replacement,” Dr. Thawrani says. “It’s not like a heart surgery, which sometimes you must have to survive. Joint replacement is purely an elective operation that improves the quality of life, reduces joint pain to the point that you can function better and for some patients it is really life changing.”
Timely surgery for better health
With the latest medical advancements joint replacement surgery, like a hip or knee replacement, is safe and is to the point that most of our patients go home and walk out of the hospital using a walker within a couple of hours after the surgery. But it’s still a major operation. Fear of the procedure is absolutely understandable and is the main reason why some people choose to delay their surgery, Dr. Thawrani says. But putting off the surgery too long does have some consequences, including:
Additional health problems: Decreased activity because of knee or hip pain can lead to inactivity, weaker muscles, and weight gain. At older age, a lack of mobility can trigger other health issues very easily, like diabetes control, elevated cholesterol, hypertension, or heart and lung problem.
Poor emotional and mental well-being: Research links chronic pain to depression and anxiety. You’re also more likely to experience depression or sadness when pain limits your activities or makes it harder for you to independently leave the house or do your routine activities of daily living.
Functional challenges: Severe pain can sometimes impact functionality or productivity. This can have an impact at work or in completing regular necessary tasks of day-to-day life.
More damage: Over time, the ligaments and bones in your joint sustain more damage. Your ligaments can stretch out too much and your bones may wear down. As a result, you may become more dependent on walking aids. Your surgery can still be performed but when you have severe deformity, damage to ligaments or bones because of too much delay in the surgery, special equipment and implants may be required, surgery may take longer, and outcomes may be compromised.
Secondary pain: To limit your joint pain, you may compensate or change the way you move. Doing so may decrease your joint discomfort, but it can lead to pain elsewhere. For example, your hip may feel better if you alter the way you walk, but your back could start to hurt. Similarly, you may alter your gait to reduce your knee movements but those altered motions may increase stress on your hip or low back and start deteriorating those joints too.
Worse pain: Unfortunately, arthritis is a progressive condition in which symptoms and pain can get worse with time and age. Consequently, your mobility and impact on other health conditions also get worse.
Advanced joint replacement care
“Traditionally we used to delay joint replacement surgery in younger patients because of fear of the survival or longevity of the artificial joint and need for revision surgery in near future” Dr. Thawrani says. “However, advancements in science and technology over the past couple of decades have addressed those concerns. Nowadays, the implants used in joint replacements easily last more than 20 years, more than 90% of patients experience more than 90% pain relief and are happy even after 20 or 25 years from their hip or knee replacement surgery” he says. “At the same time advanced medicine and anesthesia procedures have helped us to successfully do replacement in octogenarians (more than 80 years of age). So, age, young or old, is not a rigid criterion anymore for joint replacement surgery.”
He adds that, most surgeons at The Christ Hospital use minimally invasive techniques to perform joint replacements. As a result, our providers can help you stand and walk within a couple of hours after surgery and send you home instead of sending you to a rehab center or other similar facility.
“Most of our patients use a walker for a couple to few weeks at the most,” Dr. Thawrani says. “A full recovery takes a long time. But within a month, most people bounce back and are doing most of their routine activities.”
Convenient, comprehensive care
As a regional joint replacement leader, The Christ Hospital treats a large volume of patients seeking these surgeries. Our surgeons offer more experience doing joint replacement surgery than any other hospital in Greater Cincinnati. Together with our sports medicine and physical medicine and rehabilitation specialists, we offer appointments as early as the next-day and an after-hours clinic to deliver the care you need as quickly as possible without sending you to the emergency department or an urgent care clinic.
Our surgeons are experts in performing the full range of joint replacement procedures, including standard partial, total and revision (re-do) joint replacements. We’re also the leading hospital in the area that offers anterior-approach hip replacement. This minimally invasive technique reduces blood loss, pain and the risk of dislocation. It also protects your muscles and offers faster and better recovery.
In addition, our surgeons work with a multidisciplinary team to deliver the most comprehensive care. “Along with our surgeons, we have a great team of primary care physicians, anesthesiologists, physical therapists, post-operative experts and in-house exercise specialists who work together to provide care under the same roof,” Dr. Thawrani says. “We also have every high-tech navigation and robotic systems to perform the most precise and appropriate surgery on every patient.”
The right time for YOU
Ultimately, Dr. Thawrani says, there is no ‘too early,’ and there’s no ‘too late’ when it comes to a joint replacement. “You have to pick your own sweet spot in terms of timeline for when you should get a replacement,” he says. “If you have confirmed advanced arthritis and joint pain and you are exhausted with conservative treatments, you should consider joint replacement without delay and without worrying about your age. Having surgery sooner can limit further damage to your joint, reduce your discomfort, reduce secondary effects on your health from lack of mobility, and also help you recapture your active lifestyle. Sometimes, pushing too far is too detrimental, we see patients who pushed their joint replacement surgery too far and now they are not fit for joint replacement surgery anymore because of other health issues, which sometimes get priority like heart, lung or kidney over joint.”
Dr Thawrani says, “Advancement in medical science really helped to minimize many issues related with major surgeries”. So, if you are procrastinating your joint replacement surgery, please share your concerns for delaying your surgery with your orthopedic surgeon and s/he will certainly help you”. If you need any help related with your knee or hip pain our expert team at Christ Hospital is ready to help.