General Introduction
The hip joint is among our most mobile joints of our body. The components that form the hip joint may be damaged over time, or a trauma may result in loss of stability in the hip joint.
Total hip replacement or total hip arthroplasty is indicated for pain and joint instability that do not respond to medication treatments and physiotherapy and rehabilitation and are severe enough to affects daily life activities.
Why is hip replacement procedure done?
Total hip replacement is performed to cure joint disorders that hinder daily life activities (climbing stairs, walking, and getting out of the bed) and do not respond to medication treatment and physiotherapy.There is no absolute age or weight limitation for total hip replacement.
The operation decision is based on the severity of pain and the degree of disability rather than patient’s age. Therefore, personalized assessment of each patient or selection of good candidates is extremely important.
Risks
As the case for all surgeries, total hip replacement involves some risks.Those risks are as follows:
Infection
Clot formation and migration of the clot to other body parts
Laxity of hip prosthesis over time
Revision surgery
Failure to obtain desired range of motion
When these complications occur, albeit rare, recovery time may prolong, complete recovery might fail or revision surgery might be required. You should inform your orthopedic surgeon about your concerns before the surgery.Your surgeon will explain in detail whether those risks apply to you or if so, the rate of occurrence.
Knee Ligament Surgery
The knee is one of the most complex parts of your body and this joint is of vital importance for your mobility.
The knee ligaments connect your femur to your lower leg bones (tibia and fibula). Knee ligaments function by limiting the extreme rotational motions of the joint between these bones, namely the knee joint. Therefore, knee ligaments are most frequently injured during sports and sudden motions.
In the past, knee ligament injury could terminate sports life of most professional athletes. Recently, it is often possible to resume the sports life even if multiple ligaments are injured.
Anterior cruciate ligament is the most frequently injured ligament of the knee joint. The deformed or torn ligament as a result of the strain is either repaired or replaced by a tendon graft that is obtained from another part of the body.
How knee ligament surgery procedure done?
The knee joint has significantly wide range of motion and the range of these motions is limited by the ligaments in and around the knee. These ligaments are extremely strong tissues and keep the bones that form the knee joint connected to each other.
Among the aforementioned ligaments, the most frequently injured one is the anterior cruciate ligament. This ligament limits the rotational motion of the knee joint and it is injured due to many reasons, including but not limited to sudden halt, sudden change of direction while running fast, jumping from a high place in wrong position and direct impact to the knee. This injury not only leads to pain, but it also causes instability of the knee joint.
If you are not a professional athlete and your condition is mild, the condition can be treated by combining medication treatment with physiotherapy. However, if more than one ligament is injured, the person is a professional athlete and the knee joint is instable, treatment option is to repair or replace the ligament.
If the condition is left untreated, knee joint will lose the stability as a result of tear or deformity and subsequently, additional load will be born on the meniscus and other joint structures, resulting in other problems in them.
Risks
Revision surgery
Infection
Knee Pain
Blood clots
Stiffness of the knee joint
Weakness of muscles.
Failure to obtain desired range of motion
When these complications occur, albeit rare, recovery time may prolong, complete recovery might fail or revision surgery might be required. You should inform your orthopedic surgeon about your concerns before the surgery.Your surgeon will explain in detail whether those risks apply to you or if so, the rate of occurrence.
Knee Repacement
Knee replacement surgery is among the most common operations in the field of orthopedics.
The knee joint is formed by the lower end of the femur, the upper end of the tibia and the kneecap (patella). The joint surfaces on these three bones are covered by articular cartilage, a soft substance that protects the bones and allows them to move easily.
The knee joint may lose its normal structure and functioning due to various diseases, including osteoarthritis as the most common one, trauma, or wearing off over time. This condition is frequently manifested by pain, laxity, and reduction in the range of motion of the knee joint.
When a problem occurs in the above mentioned parts of the knee joint and it cannot be solved by medication and physical therapy, your surgeon cuts the damaged parts of these bones and places the artificial joint made of metal alloys or other suitable materials.
Why is knee replacement procedure done?
Your knee is among the most important joints of your body. Having healthy knees is a must to perform daily life activities.
If your knee is severely damaged due to arthritis or injury, it becomes difficult to do routine daily life activities such as climbing stairs, walking or going uphill. For initial stages, motions of the knee joint cause pain, but you may feel pain even at rest as the damage progresses.
If medication treatment, physiotherapy and rehabilitation and use of walking aids cannot manage the pain and do not help to maintain the function of the knee joint, total knee replacement may be considered.
Most common cause of the chronic knee pain and disability is arthritis. Although there are many types of arthritis, only three of them account for most knee pains: osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and post-traumatic arthritis.
Risks
The rate of complication after total knee replacement is low, but as the case for all surgeries, total knee replacement also involves some risks.
Although all possible measures that modern medicine allows are taken to prevent occurrence of risks, it is no means possible to warrant that the risks will be completely eliminated.
These risks may be related to surgery and anesthesia, but there are also some risks that may be faced after the surgery.Potential risks of total knee replacement are as follows:
Infection
Persistence of the knee pain
Clot formation in the leg veins and migration of the clot to other body parts
Anesthesia-related complications
Damage of the nerves and blood vessels around the knee
Wearing of the implant (artificial knee joint) over time
Failure to obtain desired range of motion in knee joint
When these complications occur, albeit rare, recovery time may prolong, complete recovery might fail or revision surgery might be required. You should inform your orthopedic surgeon about your concerns before the surgery.Your surgeon will explain in detail whether those risks apply to you or if so, the rate of occurrence.