If you can’t tolerate the pain but you’re worried about getting a knee replacement, it might help to know that prosthetic knee joints last up to 25 years. Your surgery also causes less pain, and you recover faster than you might imagine. Our exceptional team at Integrity Spine & Orthopedics often replaces knee joints using minimally invasive surgery. Book an appointment by calling our office in Jacksonville, Florida, or request one online today.
At Integrity Spine & Orthopedics, our team primarily performs knee replacement surgery to treat advanced osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis erodes cartilage in the knee joint, leading to bone damage, inflammation, and progressive joint damage. Eventually, the joint suffers so much damage that you need a new joint.
Most people decide it’s time to consider getting a knee replacement when:
There aren’t any age requirements for knee replacement. Decisions about when to get a knee replacement are based on your pain level and disability.
But be aware that if you’re young when you have a knee replacement, you might need a second surgery later when the artificial knee wears out.
Your knee consists of three areas called the medial, lateral, and patellofemoral compartments. If arthritis damages one compartment, our surgical team can replace that specific area. This is called a partial or unicompartmental knee replacement.
Replacing the damaged tissues in one compartment restores knee function and eases your pain while preserving the knee ligaments. As a result, you recover more quickly than with a total knee replacement.
When you get a total knee replacement, also called total knee arthroplasty, our surgical team removes the damaged tissues from all compartments. We restructure the bones to fit the artificial replacement parts.
A metal component covers the top of your thigh bone (femur), curving over the front and back of the bone. This part of the prosthetic joint replacement recreates the shape of your original thigh bone.
Our surgical team removes the top of the shin bone (tibia), making it flat. Then, we insert a metal stem into the center of the tibia, fasten a prosthetic piece to the stem, and top it off with a plastic part that takes over the role of cartilage.
The final step involves resurfacing the underside of the kneecap. Our team covers it with a plastic liner and then puts the new joint back together. The prosthetic components work together to function just like your natural joint but without the pain of osteoarthritis.
To learn more about knee replacement surgery, call Integrity Spine & Orthopedics or request an appointment online today.