A common question patients ask is: “When am I ready for hip or knee replacement?”
Watch Dr. Fricka explain when it may be time to consider knee or hip replacement surgery:
Arthritis is a condition that people live with for a long period of time. Dr. Fricka has seen terrible x-rays in patients who don’t have that much pain. The key thing to understand is that we don’t treat the x-ray, we treat the patient.
To figure out if you’re ready for surgery, ask yourself:
- Does it wake you at night?
- Have you tried other options short of surgery – like therapy, injections, or medication – that are no longer working?
- Does your knee or hip bother you every day? Do you think about it every day, and does it affect your life?
If those questions are answered yes, then you’re ready for knee replacement or hip replacement surgery.
Frequently Asked Questions
If your pain wakes you up at night, if you’ve already tried options like therapy, injections, or medication and they’re no longer working, and if it bothers you every day and affects your life, those are the signs.
Not necessarily. Some patients have terrible-looking x-rays and don’t have much pain. The x-ray alone doesn’t determine whether you need surgery.
Options like therapy, injections, and medication are typically tried first.
It’s one of the key questions to ask yourself, along with whether it bothers you daily and whether conservative treatments have stopped working.
Meet the Specialist
This article is based on patient education provided by Dr. Fricka, an orthopedic surgeon at Anderson Clinic specializing in hip and knee arthritis and joint replacement.
If your knee or hip pain is affecting your daily life, Dr. Fricka can help you understand your options at one of our locations.
Come see us! Moving with you, the Anderson Way.
