Although safe for healthy individuals and the gold standard for patients with knees as damaged as Herber’s, the procedure can be an arduous undertaking that requires up to a year for full recovery. Herber also knew that 20 percent of knee replacement patients are unhappy with their outcome. Even more ominous: A close friend died two weeks after the procedure of complications from an infection he developed because of the surgery.
The alternatives include procedures that target and at least temporarily silence the nerves that transmit pain signals emanating from the knee.
Physicians who perform the nerve operations note that they don’t permanently solve the problems of an arthritis-riddled knee joint. The three procedures described below are regarded as invasive, with requisite risks, although the risks are lower than with knee replacement.
Arthritis is a two fold problem - pain and function. Pain relief is great, especially for those who continue to have it at rest but function does not improve.
ReplyDeleteReally the main thing is prevention - weight loss, physical fitness and keeping the problem from developing in the first place