Another Reason to look for a Knee Replacement Alternative: Who knew the Knee Bone was Connected to the Ankle Bone?

Might there be other reasons to seek out a knee replacement alternative other than the fact that a surprising high number of patients still have knee pain despite knee replacement? How about one you would have never guessed-a knee replacement can advance ankle arthritis. Your body is interconnected; what happens in one area impacts other…read more

Largest Knee Arthritis X-ray Study Shows Bone Spurs Predict need for Knee Replacement-Maybe…

In our practice we call knee replacement the surgical amputation of the knee joint with insertion of a prosthesis. Why? It’s a very big surgery with a 1 in 10 chance of serious, life changing complications; and a very good reason for a good knee replacement alternative.  In 2008 alone, there were 17,500 huge complications (including 5,000…read more

Activity after Knee Replacement – Lower than Expected

Knee replacement activity – Lower than expected.  Many patients are quite optimistic that once they get a hip or knee replaced they will return to high levels of physical activity. Direct to consumer ads placed by knee and hip replacement manufacturers don’t help the issue, as they show people climbing mountains and generally being extremely active with…read more

Getting your Knee Replaced doesn’t Help Muscle Weakness

In terms of function, what is knee replacement effectiveness? A recent study asked an interesting and related question, “Does replacing the arthritic knee joint allow better use of the muscles around the knee?” This small study looked at knee arthritis patients and knee replacement patients for strength and power of the knee extensor and flexor muscles.…read more

More Problems with Knee and Hip Replacements: Allergy Testing Now Advised

The more I hear about the ever growing myriad of dangerous problems associated with hip and knee replacements, it reminds me why we have worked so hard to offer a hip and knee replacement alternative.  A new study just demonstrated that 2/3’rds of knee and hip replacement patients had allergies to some component of the…read more

What factors determine if you’ll need a knee replacement or a knee replacement alternative?

As you might tell by our web-site, we’re not big believers in what we call knee joint amputation with insertion of an artificial prosthesis (a.k.a. knee replacement), but instead favor a knee replacement alternative. This is due to the big potential complications that come with knee replacement surgery as well as the possible long-term issues…read more

More on Metal Ions in the Blood as a Result of Knee Replacement

I’ve blogged before on known knee replacement wear particles as a significant complication of replacement. Wear particles are microscopic pieces of metal, ceramic, or plastic that break off of from the knee replacement or hip prosthesis and irritate the local tissues and/or enter the bloodstream. In addition, at least one large study has associated a knee replacement with…read more

What predicts which patients will need a knee replacement?

Interesting recent study on which MRI and other findings predict which patients will need a knee replacement surgery. The study followed 161 patients with knee arthritis until 18 of them needed knee replacement surgery. So what MRI findings predicted if they were likely to need a knee replacement surgery MRI? One that was associated was “bone marrow lesions”. These…read more