Life changes after a knee replacement, but don’t expect miracles
June 3, 2008 by Marijke Durning, RN
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
People live with knee and hip pain long before they finally go for a joint replacement. This can be for many reasons, ranging from waiting lists for the surgery to fear of the unknown.
When asked afterwards, many who have the surgery say that they can’t believe they waited so long, living with chronic pain, before having the surgery because they felt so much better after and were now able to do things they’d long given up.
That being said, knee replacements are not a miracle – they’re great and they usually make life livable again, but they’re not perfect.
According to Jane E. Brody, author of the article 3 Years Later, Knees Made for Dancing, there are residual problems that many who receive knee replacements aren’t told of before the surgery. Some are the inability to fully bend the knee while going down stairs, discomfort on kneeling, and the risk of having to have the surgery fixed or revised down the road.
She doesn’t regret having the surgery, but the article lets us know that she wishes she’d known about these little things.
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