In many patients the whole of the knee joint is worn and a total knee replacement is required to re-line all of the joint surfaces.

The procedure can be performed under general or spinal anaesthetic. Often nerve blocks are used and these are very effective in reducing pain after the operation. Patients are normally in hospital for 5 days and will normally mobilise on crutches for between 4-6 weeks post-operatively.

It normally takes 3 months to recover from the procedure and the knee will continue to improve for up to a year following the operation.

The aim of the operation is to relieve pain and improve function, including walking and stair climbing. Many patients are able to play golf following replacement surgery and doubles tennis.

It would be reasonable to expect to return to activities such as cycling, but knee replacements are not intended to allow activities such as running or contact sports. The majority of patients are happy with the results of knee replacement.

A knee replacement is expected to last at least 10 years and in many cases replacements can last 15-20 years.
 

Types of total knee replacement 

Robotic assisted knee replacement surgery: This has a number of potential benefits including faster recovery time, smaller incisions and fewer complications. Robotic assisted surgery may be used for both partial knee replacement and total knee replacements. The robotic assisted procedure enables the surgeon to plan your surgery pre-operatively and introduce a high level of accuracy of placement of the knee implant. Adrian has been trained in robotic surgery.

Customised knee replacements: The Conformis knee system utilises an individual patient’s CT scan to manufacture a knee replacement designed for that patient. This may improve implant fit, preserve as much of the patient’s natural knee as possible. This is in contrast of off the shelf knee replacement where the implant size is selected from a range of sizes.

Patient specific instrumentation: This technology involves the manufacture of cutting guides designed for an individual patient’s knee replacement from a pre-operative MRI or CT scan. This technique can be very useful in certain instances, particularly if a patient has sustained previous fractures or trauma to the bones either side of the arthritic knee.