If you’re living with knee pain, you might be dreading the day your doctor tells you that surgery is the only treatment option left. That’s understandable — knee surgery is a significant financial and time commitment. A typical knee surgery racks up costs for the procedure, a hospital stay and post-surgical rehabilitation. And you’ll likely be out of commission for many of your usual activities for several weeks or months while you recover.
But if your pain is reaching an unbearable level, it may be time to consider knee surgery. For many people, surgery can effectively relieve pain and restore lost mobility. Keep reading to learn when it’s time to seek medical advice to learn about your surgical options.
What Conditions Require Knee Surgery?
Arthritis is the primary reason for knee surgery in the United States. Common forms of arthritis like osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis cause worsening joint pain, stiffness, loss of mobility, and permanent joint damage over time, eventually resulting in the need for a partial or total knee replacement surgery.
A chronic knee injury is another common reason for knee surgery. If you sustain an injury that doesn’t heal properly, it may continue to cause pain and loss of function over the years. Once pain worsens to the point that it affects your ability to perform daily activities, surgery may be necessary.
Surgery is often the final treatment option your doctor will recommend. While knee surgery is effective for many people, surgery is a big deal. It’s expensive, and you’ll likely need several weeks or months to fully recover and return to your normal life.
When It’s Time to Consider Surgery
The following signs indicate that it’s time to seek expert medical advice for surgical treatment options.
- You have severe pain and swelling. If you have persistent pain and swelling, pain that isn’t relieved by rest or medications, and pain that interrupts your sleep at night, it may be time to discuss surgery with your doctor.
- You have difficulty performing daily activities. Surgery is an option if pain, stiffness, and swelling are making daily activities like getting out of bed, bathing, climbing stairs, standing up from a chair, cooking, or getting into and out of the car difficult or impossible.
- You can’t fully bend or straighten the knee. If your range of motion isn’t where it used to be, and you can’t fully bend or straighten the knee joint anymore, it’s time to talk to your doctor about surgical options.
- Conservative treatments aren’t helping. Surgery is usually the next step when non-surgical treatments like medications, physical therapy, and injections are ineffective or becoming less effective over time. If you need pain medications daily, or if you aren’t seeing significant improvement with physical therapy, you may need to consider other options.
- You need assistance to walk. If you have reduced mobility and need the assistance of a cane, walker, or wheelchair to get around day-to-day, surgery might be the best option to help you regain independent mobility.
- The knee has a visible deformity. If the affected knee is visibly deformed, or bows in or out, it’s time to see your doctor. Deformity typically indicates significant joint damage.
- Pain is affecting your well-being. You don’t have to live in pain if it’s affecting your quality of life. If you feel depressed, anxious, angry, hopeless or helpless due to your condition, talk to your doctor as soon as possible.
Is There an Alternative to Knee Replacement Surgery?
If you’ve been told you have significant knee joint damage that requires a total replacement surgery, you may be a candidate for the iO-Core™ procedure. iO-Core combines orthopedics and biologics to address the root cause of joint pain for people living with painful arthritis and other joint conditions.
For many years, doctors believed that arthritis was a “surface problem” — meaning it only affected a joint’s surface layer of cartilage. We now know that arthritis affects the entire joint structure, including the cartilage, underlying bone and connective soft tissues. New and emerging research shows that underlying bone damage and bone marrow lesions are a significant indicator of pain, cartilage loss and accelerated joint degeneration in people with advanced arthritis.
The iO-Core™ procedure is a game-changer for arthritis treatment. It targets both the surface cartilage loss and underlying bone damage to reduce pain and restore function in the joint. During the procedure, damaged bone is decompressed and a bone graft is implanted into the area of unhealthy bone to promote regrowth. Bone marrow aspirate rich in growth factors, stem cells and progenitor cells is injected into the joint space to promote healing, revascularization and regrowth. A targeted treatment like iO-Core reduces pain, improves mobility and can prevent further disease progression without the need to undergo surgery.
Many people who were told they needed a total joint replacement surgery have found long-term pain relief and greater mobility from iO-Core™ instead. Contact our team today to learn more and see if you qualify.