When many doctors have already said a knee replacement is needed, what decides which knees, and why?
Dr. Mahajan is Chairman Orthopaedics, Joint Replacement & Chief Robotic Joint Replacement at Max Smart Super Speciality Hospital, Saket.
A woman with years of knee pain travelled to put that question to Dr Ramneek Mahajan.
How did it start?
The patient says her legs had hurt for four to five years, and mildly before that.
Dr Mahajan says she had difficulty walking and used a stick.
What did the earlier doctors advise?
The patient says she saw many doctors where she lived, and that they all said a knee replacement was needed.
Dr Mahajan says she had been to many places before she came to him for an opinion.
What did this surgeon say had to be done, and why?
Dr Mahajan says that after X-rays and an examination, the decision was that both knees needed replacing. She wanted the operation so that she could again do all the things the pain had stopped her doing.
What changed after the operation?
Dr Mahajan says that on the first evening she was ready to get up, and the next morning she was out in the corridor with a walker, trying to get out of bed herself; by 48 hours she was getting out of bed on her own. She wants to travel back home even before her stitches come out at five days.
The patient says she feels well after the operation and still has a little pain when walking; the physiotherapy is going well, she is improving little by little, and there has been no complication.
What should a patient ask before replacing both knees?
This is one woman's story, not a promise: what an operation can do for you depends on your own case.
Ask what your X-rays and an examination show before you decide.
Ask what you should be able to do in the first 48 hours after the operation.
What this case teaches
X-rays show how much damage and deformity a knee has, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons says, alongside an examination of alignment.
Full recovery from a knee replacement can take several months or longer, depending on age and health, the NHS says.
Nurses and physiotherapists help people start walking soon after a knee replacement, the NHS says.
