Knee Surgery Rarely Causes Complications

Knee surgery is a remarkably successful operation. Generally speaking, it is completely successful ninety-eight percent of the time. A rare two percent of patients may contract an infection of the knee joint following surgery. Extremely rare, indeed, are those patients who have serious complications such as stroke or heart attack.

Patients who have a chronic illness will be a bit more likely to experience complications. Rehabilitation may be extended by chronic illness, and complete recovery may be hindered.

A fairly commonly experienced complication of knee surgery is clotting in the veins of the leg. You can avoid this by simply following your orthopedic surgeons orders. You will be sent home with instructions to elevate your legs on a regular basis, perform prescribed exercises, perhaps take blood thinning medications, and perhaps even use support stockings. Be sure to follow these instructions to the letter, and you should have no problems.

Sometimes the components of the replacement may loosen or the bearing surfaces may become worn. This is quite rare because the materials and techniques used for knee replacement surgery are quite sophisticated and of the highest quality.

Although a patient can usually expect to have a ROM (range of motion) of 115 after surgery, there are some exceptions. For example, if you had very limited ROM (range of motion) before the surgery, it will be quite likely to be somewhat limited after the surgery. Additionally, on very rare occasions, damage to the blood vessels or nerves of the knee may occur. This can limit motion somewhat.

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Your orthopedic surgeon will be happy to discuss all of your concerns with you before you have your surgery.

What You Should Know About Home Recovery

The majority of the time, a successful knee replacement will give dependable service for about ten years. To assure the long life of your knee replacement, it is very important you follow your orthopedic surgeons instructions during your home recovery period. You may be instructed to: elevate your leg, exercise regularly, take blood thinning medications, use support hose. Be sure to do all these things exactly as you have been told. This will ensure that your implant will last a very long time.

How To Take Care Of Your Wound

Your orthopedic surgeon may close your wound in one of three ways. He or she may staple or stitch it shut exteriorly or close it with subcutaneous sutures. If the closure of your wound is exterior, you can expect to go back to the doctor within a few weeks to have the stitches or staples removed. If the wound is closed with interior sutures, they will dissolve, and you will not need to do anything.

Do not soak in the bath, swim, or otherwise get your wound thoroughly wet until it has healed completely. Keep it protected. You may wish to cover it with a bandage to protect it from becoming irritated by contact with your clothing or support stockings.

Stay Active

You will be sent home with a list of exercises that are intended to facilitate your speedy recovery. It is essential that you do them. You may feel a bit of pain while doing them; however, slight pain is normal and nothing to worry about. You may also feel a bit of pain while resting at night. As you heal, this will pass, and you will be back to normal and able to resume your regular daily activities in a month to six weeks.

Dr. Tarlow is a Board Certified Orthopaedic Surgeon with over 20 years specializing in knee surgery. He opened his own clinic, Advanced Knee Care, with a focus on specialty patient care. Click here to learn more about Dr. Tarlow, arthroscopic surgeon and torn ACL surgery.