Is a knee replacement a replacement of the entire knee joint? This is not true. Many people mistakenly believe that joint replacement means replacing the entire joint. In fact, joint replacement, also known as surface replacement, is equivalent to replacing the parts of the joint. Specifically, because the cartilage on the surface of the knee joint is worn out, joint replacement only replaces this cartilage, which is a very thin layer on the surface, and then puts on a metal joint, which is similar to putting a braces on a broken tooth. Finally, a “plastic cushion”, a high-density polyethylene joint surface, is placed between the two metal joints to dampen vibration. This allows the patient to regain normal joint function and reduce pain. After knee replacement surgery, is it possible to function as normal? To what extent can I recover? The goal of knee replacement is to reduce pain and restore basic joint function. After surgery, normal walking and basic living are no problem, but movements such as kneeling and squatting are only possible for patients who have recovered exceptionally well, and most patients are unable to squat or do strenuous activities after surgery. This is especially true if the patient performs strenuous activities like an athlete after surgery, which can increase the wear and tear on the joint. Will there be any pain or other symptoms after surgery? There are two stages of post-operative pain. Stage 1: Pain that occurs just after surgery, after the anesthesia has passed, is caused by the surgery and will gradually disappear over time. In particular, this postoperative pain is much less severe than the pain caused by the disease before the operation, and the doctor will use various methods, such as analgesics, to eliminate the pain during the pain process. Stage 2: After the postoperative joint function is restored, the pain gradually disappears in more than 95% of patients. According to my experience, about 1/3 of the patients, one year after the operation, feel that the new artificial joints and their own joints, very suitable, will not feel any pain; 1/3 of the patients in the postoperative cloudy and rainy days, occasionally feel slightly uncomfortable, a little bit of pain, which is a normal phenomenon, after all, it is an artificial joint, and their own have a process of friction; there are also 1/3 of the patients because of the adhesion of the joints or the function of exercise There are also 1/3 of the patients, because of the joint adhesion or functional exercise in time and lead to pain, but this kind of pain is much lighter than the joint pain before the surgery, basically does not affect the life. What are the problems that can occur if knee replacement is not performed? First of all, we need to understand why joint replacement is necessary. There is a layer of cartilage on the surface of the knee joint, which is often called “brittle bone”, and it has no nerves. Due to various reasons, such as rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, joint injuries, etc., the articular cartilage wears out, exposing the bone underneath the cartilage. Unlike cartilage, there are nerves inside the bone and when the bone wears out, the patient experiences pain and this pain can have an impact on life. In the early stages, the pain may only be felt when there is a lot of exercise Which patients need a knee replacement? There are many causes of joint wear and tear, such as the common osteoarthritis, which is more than 50% prevalent in people over the age of 60. In addition to this, some specific types of inflammatory diseases, including rheumatoid, ankylosing spondylitis, and traumatic synovitis of the knee, can also cause wear and tear of the joint cartilage. It is important to realize that normal human joint cartilage has a certain degree of elasticity, and when cartilage is destroyed, it is equivalent to the beads in the axle of a bicycle being worn out, and the bicycle can no longer be ridden. Similarly, when the cartilage wears down, the joints cannot move and there is pain. When this pain interferes with life, joint replacement needs to be considered. If imaging reveals that the joint wear has become more severe, but the patient is still able to walk, then surgery may be considered on an individual basis. If X-rays show that the joint cartilage has worn away, and the patient can’t walk more than 500 meters on his own, and it hurts as soon as he walks, then knee replacement should be considered. Are obese patients suitable for knee replacement? Is it necessary to lose weight before replacing the joint? Obesity itself is one of the causes of osteoarthritis, and joint wear and tear can be aggravated when too much weight is gained. In addition, after joint replacement, obesity increases the wear and tear of the new joint, which in turn decreases the service life of the artificial joint. Viewed in this way, obese patients do need to lose weight. However, there is also a practical problem, as preoperative patients have pain when walking and cannot lose weight through exercise. Therefore, the issue needs to be viewed in two: for particularly obese patients, joint surgery will be more difficult to do, the surgical process of wound exposure time is prolonged, increasing the chances of infection, therefore, it is recommended that pre-operative weight loss; for patients who are not particularly obese, it is recommended that the first joint replacement, after the replacement of joints after the ability to exercise normally, then through the exercise to lose weight, otherwise there will be a vicious circle. Pain, for patients aged 50 to 60 years old, may be hesitant to have surgery. By the time the disease develops to an advanced stage, the patient will feel pain even in a resting state, which has seriously affected his life. By this time, the patient may already be 70 years old, and at this time, if the joint replacement is still not carried out, the wear and tear of the joints will become more and more serious, and finally the joints will become deformed and stiff, and the patient can only use a wheelchair. In the beginning, only one side of the joint may need to be replaced, but in the later stages, both sides of the joint will be worn out more seriously, and both may need to be treated.