A dull ache, a sharp stab, or a strange warmth accompanied by swelling. Knee pain is an exceedingly common reason why people visit their doctors.
It can be caused for a variety of reasons, including gout, osteonecrosis or, more rarely, a tumour at the knee joint. However, osteoarthritis is the most likely reason that you’re experiencing discomfort in your knee.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s advice is to lose weight and ditch painkillers to help mitigate this problem; but for some people, even the most basic daily tasks are unbearable thanks to the pain.
If you’ve reached this stage, it’s worth considering whether knee replacement surgery could be the right decision for you – especially with UK hospital treatment waiting lists longer than ever. In this article, we’ll be discussing three key benefits of knee replacement surgery.
Pain relief
After recovering from your knee replacement surgery, you could experience significantly less pain while walking, running, standing or even while sedentary. It’s important to have realistic expectations – this won’t happen straight away. But if you stay on top of rehab then you could be more or less pain-free after six months.
Improved function and mobility
Following your surgery, you’ll need to perform exercises that help you to move your knee as much as possible without exhausting yourself or stressing the healing area too much.
After doing this in a disciplined manner, it shouldn’t be too long before you’re able to return to activities that you used to enjoy before your knee pain began to hold you back.
Despite this, it’s vital that you consult your doctor before engaging in any knee activity post-op. The last thing that you want to do is injure your knee and experience pain once again.
Better life satisfaction
It might seem obvious to say that without debilitating pain you’ll have a significantly better quality of life. But this assertion isn’t just a hope – it’s backed by research. According to a survey of over 10,000 people conducted by Statista, 90% of patients who underwent knee replacement surgery felt that their problems were better than before.
All the same, you should have realistic expectations when considering if knee replacement surgery is right for you.
Your new joint might never feel normal, you could be out of action for a while, and you may still feel some pain – but on the whole, the benefits vastly outweigh the downsides.
