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It is such a common question. I hear it all the time in the office. When should I have my knee replaced or when am I ready for surgery? A simple question which sometimes is simply answered and other times requires a thoughtful analysis involving multiple intricacies.
Here is the answer that is frequently told by most surgeons:
UPDATED (August 21, 2016) to reflect changes in Pain and Mood study.
Your help is needed to participate in a unique research opportunity for knee replacement patients. Dr. Christine Pellegrini of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University has developed two fantastic research projects. You can participate and help to build upon our knowledge and perhaps help others in the future.
In the first edition of this two part blog "Return to Work after Knee Replacement – Timeline and Challenges", we focus on the orthopedic surgeon's perspectives. We outline the typical time to return to work and discuss the success rates of patients returning to their previous jobs. For this second edition of our blog, we hit the digital streets so to speak. We asked several of our My Knee Guide Twitter followers to describe their own journeys back to work. Their experiences will enlighten from the perspective of patients who have gone through this voyage.
Knee replacement surgery is being performed at earlier ages than ever before due to a combination of better surgical techniques, improved implant design, and increased patient demand. In the past, most orthopedic surgeons would have been very hesitant to perform this operation on someone in their 50's. Now this has become common place.
ProPublica, a non-profit investigative journalist newsroom, released a searchable database on surgical complications on July 14, 2015. They included 16,827 surgeons in their analysis and call this database, the Surgeon Scorecard. ProPublica, in consultation with the Harvard School of Health and John's Hopkins University School of Medicine created this algorithm that rates surgeons based on an indicator of surgical complications.
