Any Advice For A 49 Year Old Looking Into Having Knee Replacement Surgery?
My knee has hurt for years and the cortisone shots are not making any difference? I’m seeing my doctor latter today, but would appreciate advice from the community.
Posted by atjone Date: Sunday, October 11, 2009
Categories: Surgery
Tags: Advice, Having, Into, Knee, Looking, Replacement, Surgery, Year
Have you had any X-ray or MRI taken of the knee? I had knee pain that would come and go for years until last year it came and never went. Ended up being Osteochondritis Dissecans, where the bone had died and chipped off, floating in the joint. It only showed up on an MRI.
Cortisone is just a back up for temp pain relieve. You really need to sit down with your doctor and find out what kind of knee replacement your going to need. Sometimes they do full knee replacement, and other times, they put in fake cartilage. Also you have to ask yourself this….1. Are you willing to go to pt for almost 3 months? 2. Do you have someone to help you the first few days at home? 3. Are you ready to take time off work, because this will be a long process? Good luck!
Two of my friends have had knee replacements
and with all the invasive surgery involved,they had a great deal of swelling and pain,they had lots of physio.
They are both now pain free and waiting for the other doing.
It really depends on why your knee is in pain. If it is arthritis then yes a knee replacement is the ideal treatment, however your age is working against you! Most insurance companies won’t approve knee replacements for people under 55yrs. Their reasoning is that knee replacements don’t last more then 20 years. Being 49yr means that you would need one when you are 69yr and definately young enough for a new set of knees. If they wait 6 years chances are you either won’t be mobile at 75 and so won’t have a need for new ones. I am sure your MD has gone over other treatments for arthritis such as NAIDS. Aleve has worked wonders for my dad. There is also a new procedure that I vaguely heard of that kind of takes the place of a knee replacement. I believe that they inject some sort of substance that acts like the cartiledge of a joint. You might want to look into something like that. If there is another reason besides arthritis that is causing your pain they need to treat the source, not just the pain. I hope that helps!
I understand the replacement only lasts for 10 – 15 years, ut they’re always making advancements. I, too, am facing knee replacement in the future . . . just don’t know when yet. I’m 55. Very best of luck to you. I would like to know more about your experience.
The price of knee replacement surgery is very low in India as compared to USA, UK and Canada. My cousin also got her hip replacement surgery in India through the fly2india4health consultants .She is more than very happy with the results. She is totally pain free now. She just paid 25% of the amount she was quoted in USA and is all praise for this forerunners healthcare company.
Fly2india4health Consultants is very famous in India. I read a lot about them in the Newspapers and magazines. I have read a lot of their patient stories also. They arrange financing for USA, Canadian, UK and other international patients who plan to have surgery abroad for low price, as all joint surgery is not covered by insurance in USA or by NHS in the UK. They also have photos pasted of their International patients. You can checkout their website. There are huge cost savings. As a doctor I personally believe that your surgery can be easily handled in India, as the quality of healthcare available In India is simply best in the world. The surgeons are USA/UK trained and facilities are 5 star.
http://www.fly2india4health.com
Hope this helps.
Do it
You will wonder why you waited
My father in law wait years before having his done he got a metal knee join and was always in so much pain he can’t believe how much its changed his life and wished he done years ago instead of just thinking about it so do it you might be pain free like him.
Do you have one knee hurt or two? If only one knee hurting, the chance is you have one leg is longer than the other. In most case, it is the longer side hurt. You can laid on you back and have somebody check and see if either hills are same length or not; it only take ¼ inch different to make you hurt. What had happen is when you stand or walk you lean to the shorter side, and the knee muscles on the longer side try to pull you back but too far away from the main body weight and over stressed.. You can put a shoe sole in the shoe of good side. It is very important to do not put in both sides; only in good side.
I, as well have suffered with bad knees/ surgery ect. and I think I know what your doctor may tell you.
49 is quite young for knee replacement and he/she may advise that you stick it out with the pain as long as you possibly can. An artificial knee has a life expectancy of a little over ten years and you dont want to go through this procedure repeatedly in your lifetime (if you can avoied it).
Best of luck to you.