If your knee joint is severely damaged by inflammation or trauma and you are unable to walk, climb stairs, or even sit up or sleep, it will inevitably affect your daily life. Perhaps you can try taking Western medicine, Chinese herbs, limiting your activities, or using crutches to relieve your symptoms, but when none of these options work, you need to consider artificial knee replacement surgery. ”Many patients are immediately put off when they hear they need a knee replacement. The truth is, it’s not as scary as it sounds.” I’m sure you’ve heard of dental veneers and crown surgery, but in fact, artificial joints are very similar to crown surgery. The normal knee joint has a layer of cartilage cushion, and as people age, this cushion gradually breaks down and falls off, just like a tooth. Some people lose their teeth early, and some centenarians have a mouth full of “original” teeth. The same goes for the cartilage in the knee joint, which wears out faster in some people and slower in others. However, once the cartilage cushion is worn away, it cannot be regenerated, and the patient will then experience joint instability, bone spurs, and pain when walking up and down stairs. Many patients feel the bones rubbing together when they move their joints, and even hear a clacking sound. The artificial knee joint is similar to putting a crown on your bad tooth, it just cuts off a thin layer of the damaged joint surface and replaces it with a layer of joint surface usually made of metal or polyethylene. This is what the people call an artificial joint replacement, and medically we call it a knee surface replacement. Artificial knee replacement surgery was the greatest medical invention of the 20th century, and the first knee replacement was done in 1968. As surgical techniques and biomaterials continue to improve, the results of the procedure are getting better and better. Currently, there are approximately 300,000 knee replacements performed each year in the United States alone. In more than 90 percent of patients, the artificial joint can last more than 20 years.