Are you experiencing pain in your hip and knee? Are you having difficulty walking or climbing steps? If you are, you should talk to your primary care physician to determine the health of your hip and knee joints. In many cases, a combination of exercise, stretching, medications and losing weight can reduce or eliminate the symptoms of a damaged arthritic joint. But if these treatments don’t work, you may want to consider total joint replacement surgery. Here are some of more frequently asked questions people ask about this procedure.
What is total joint replacement surgery?
It’s a surgical operation in which a damaged or arthritic joint is replaced by a metal, plastic or ceramic “artificial” joint called a prothesis.
How common is joint replacement surgery?
Today, about 7 million Americans are walking around with either a total hip or total knee replacement, the two most common joint replacement surgeries. For Americans older than 50, five percent have replaced a knee and two percent have replaced a hip.And the numbers are growing. This year alone, there will be 600,000 knee replacements and 400,000 hip replacements in the U.S.
How long does the surgery last?
Joint replacement surgery for a knee or hip usually takes between one and three hours, followed by the same amount of time in the recovery room.
How long is the hospital stay?
Most patients are able to return home within one to three days.
How long does it take to recover from surgery?
That depends on the type of replacement. Physical therapy usually begins at the hospital and continues on an outpatient basis after the patient returns home. For hip replacement surgery, most people can resume a majority of their daily activities in six weeks. For knee replacement surgery, recovery is usually longer: typically three months to return to most activities.
How long does the replacement last?
For both hip and knee replacement, 90-95 percent are still functioning after 10 years and 80-85 percent last 20 years.
Is there an age limit for this type of surgery?
No, as long as you are in reasonably good health, you can be considered for joint replacement surgery.
Source: American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons