Care of the artificial knee joint

  Artificial joint care includes preoperative care, postoperative care, and post-discharge care.  Preoperative care mainly refers to educating patients about the side effects of certain medications and, if necessary, discontinuing medications that are unnecessary or can cause intraoperative or postoperative bleeding. For postoperative care, first of all, attention should be paid to the condition of the incisional drains including the bleeding situation, the exudate situation and the amount of exudate, and attention should also be paid to observe whether the drains are blocked, twisted and other conditions that are not open, and once any abnormality is found, it should be promptly dealt with by the doctor. The excipient of the drainage port should be changed in time to prevent infection of the wound. After surgery, the affected limb should be placed flat on the pillow for 6 hours, and the affected limb should be elevated with a soft pillow behind the knee to avoid excessive pressure on the calf gastrocnemius muscle and the common peroneal nerve and to prevent the formation of thrombosis of the calf gastrocnemius plexus and injury to the common peroneal nerve. Close attention should also be paid to the sensation of the affected limb and the skin temperature, skin color and dorsalis pedis artery pulsation of the limb, and timely management of any abnormalities. Post-discharge care should focus on protecting the prosthesis, preventing falls, avoiding squatting and kneeling and excessive distortion of the replaced joint, avoiding strenuous exercise, avoiding heavy loads, but carrying out long-term and moderate rehabilitation training to make the prosthesis function better.  In short, after artificial joint replacement, we should prevent wound infection, injury, and especially fracture, and if there is any abnormality, we must go to the hospital in time for treatment.