Knee Replacement Advice?

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velvetfoot

Minister of Fire
Dec 5, 2005
10,202
Sand Lake, NY
At 58, with a previous knee 'scope at age 30, it looks like I'm on the road to eventual knee replacement 'cause of arthritis (had only one cortizone shot so far and it wore off a couple of weeks ago).

Can anyone out there who's been through it give me any advice or relate their experience?

Like, how long should I wait (how much does it have to hurt before, how long do they last), can you hike and play golf afterwards, climb up on the roof (lol)etc.

It's very scary doing searches and reading about the actual procedure.

Maybe there'll be some other type of fix at some point in the (near or distant?) future, right?

Thanks.
 
my MIL had it done several weeks ago and is doing great
fair amount of discomfort at first, and the therapy, stretching
was uncomfortable
she is up and walking around now
she is glad she had it done and is in alot less pain than before
arthritis also, doctor said it was the worst he's ever seen
she is in her 60's
dont know about the roof part but
give me a couple of wekks and I'll see if i can get her up there
 
Do a google search for "signature knee"- it is the best thing going at the moment. essentially they use an MRI machine to scan the knee and then build a 3d model of the joint to make the replacement.

I'm on the same path as you long term.
 
Thanks for the tip.

I just spoke to a guy I work with who had it done in his early 50's.
He mentioned getting at least 25 'reference points' and looking at the surgeon's infection rate.
I'm under the impression that infection rates are going down in general, so that's a good thing.
He also said he's about 85% of what he used to be in his younger days but can't kneel anymore and that recovery is a 2 year process and is mostly pain management.
Something ominous he also said is that if you're gonna get them both done, get them done at the same time, because you won't want to go through the process twice.

In any event - ughh.
 
They do not like to do it to early as you can wear them out so will they do it at 58, my knee has been operated on twice (one major and one minor) so I think I will have to have a new one some day and not looking forward to it.
 
One of the folks in the NH hiking scene had a knee replacement and climbed the 48 4000 footers in the state in less than a year after he had one done. His new knee has replacable wear surfaces, so when he wears one out they can replace them when needed. There are apparently a couple of ways of therapy after knee replacement, one is for athletes and is a lot more work and a lot more pain but gets done quicker, the other one requires less commitment but takes longer. My friends daughter is a physical therapist who worked for a specialist that did knees, she mentioned there is a big difference between the infection rates between hospitals and doctors so make sure to ask, I know of two people who got infections and had to have the implants removed until they cleared up the infection.

Most folks I have run into who have had their knees done didnt regret it.
 
Thanks for the super information.
I had no idea there was such a thing as replaceable wear surfaces.
The infection thing is scary and worth researching for sure.
 
My neighbor who is still farming at 78yrs old had both of his knees done 5yrs ago on the same day. He walked with a walker for about 10 days. He was upset when the Dr would not let him go back to work for 3weeks. He can not understand why he wait so long to have it done.
Tom
 
Thanks.

I'm remembering that after I had the knee scoped almost 30 years ago, I taped a cane to the clutch pedal of my 1966 VW Beetle to get to the Boston VA Hospital from Exeter, NH, where I was living at the time.
Time to re-visit the technique I guess.
 
brother in law had it done about 2 yrs ago at the hospital for special surgery...its one of the best places for joint replacement....he cant believe how good it feels...it took about a year until he was 100%...
 
One of my colleagues just had it done a few weeks ago. Her bad knee is now her good knee and she expects to be back playing tennis next year. She is having the second one done in a month or so.

The signature knee is the direction these things are going - because of the way they are engineered they wear less against your existing bones (the alignment is far better the earlier versions) so need replacing less frequently.
 
I'd go with the Six Million Dollar Bionic knees . . . then you can jump 10 feet, outrun a speeding car and really kick some Sasquatch butt if need be . . . of course the negative would be that "tatatatatatatatatata" noise they'll make every time you move. ;) :)

On the serious side . . . good luck with whatever you do.
 
Thanks for the info. The Hospital for Special Surgery is the place the Mets use - overused, of late though.
I really like the idea of replaceable pads though.
 
Pyro, my dad, at age 70, had his left knee replaced at the beginning of the year. Huge success and you would never know he had the surgery by the way he walks. (Check the "Gone Fishin'" thread in this forum's "Perfect Picture." He landed that rooster fish standing up.) He waited a long, long, long time before doing the replacement and probably could have gone another couple of years before doing so. He always remained active with his wood pile, among other things, and would occasionally cringe when his knee gave out. His doctors had been advising a knee replacement for the last 10 years, if not more. He's a bit stubborn. I believe his recovery was quick and relatively easy because he kept himself in good physical condition prior to the replacement. I wonder how much more difficult it would have been for him if he weren't in good shape physically. He had the replacement done when he knew it was time for him, not when the knee made it 100 percent necessary.
 
+2 for H.S.S.

I had Meniscus done in Sept of '08, then my ACL replaced in Jan of '09, there. (could have been done in one step, but the wife had a preplanned Hernia op. in Oct of '08 - didn't want both of us OoC at the same time) GREAT people - can't say enough good things about the staff.

As far as replacement goes, please keep us updated - I can see me ending up having to do that in about 5 years or so (hopefully longer...)
 
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