Partial Knee Replacement Surgery - When to Go For It?

Pain in the knee is very annoying. It reduces the efficiency and the mobility of the person as it becomes very difficult to walk and run. There are many different reasons for a knee pain to occur. Similarly there are many different treatments to cure knee pain. These treatments are either the conventional ones or the non-conventional ones. Knee replacement is a very popular surgery for treating pain in the knee. Knee replacement is of two different types - Partial knee replacement and total knee replacement.

The partial replacement surgery treats the pain that occurs because of the arthritis. There is a difference between partial and total knee replacement surgeries. The partial surgery involves smaller incisions compared to the total knee replacement surgery. Also, the time taken by the patients to recover in case of Partial Knee Replacement surgery is much less than in case of total knee replacement. This makes partial replacement a better surgery in case the problem is very great.

Only a good knee specialist can determine whether the person needs a partial replacement of the knee or a total knee replacement surgery. The partial replacement surgery is sometimes called the “minimally invasive surgery of the knee” or the “unicompartmental arthroplasty of the knee”.

The procedure involved in this knee replacement surgery is to remove the infected, diseased or the damaged sections of the knee cartilage and then replace them with artificial parts or components. People with serious arthritis problem can go for this surgery if they have been unsuccessful with the other forms of treatment.

It is generally observed that people who are above the age of fifty-five or sixty having pain in their knees are recommended the partial knee surgery. For undergoing this form of treatment, the person has to fulfil the conditions given below:
1. The person should not be obese.
2. The person’s ligaments should not be displaced.
3. The life of the person should be moderately sedentary.
A person who doesn’t fulfil the above requirements should not go for this surgery. The knee specialist will discard it immediately.

People who undergo this treatment have been observed for research purposes. The results have been quite positive as the patients are living a better life after the surgery. They are very much satisfied with the results of the partial replacement surgery of the knee.

It is important that the person consults a good knee surgeon. If the knee problem can be treated through a conservative treatment without involving any surgery, nothing is better than that. The person consulted on this matter should be a specialist in this field, holding great expertise and experience. But such treatments are few and rarely successful and thus partial knee replacement surgery is of great importance.