I'm 54.4 yrs old, and after 4 knee surgeries, and osteoarthritis gradually getting a bit worse, I'm thinking hard about a knee replacement(s). I've been getting a couple of rounds of synvisc injections every year, and cortisone injections 3-4 times per year for 4 years now. Curious as to the experience by those who've had it done....recovery time, results, misc thoughts, etc.

My brother had it done at about your age.
He said it's the best money he ever spent, but the recovery immediately after and the phys therapy was tough.

My wife is out visiting a life long friend of hers in the hospital right now. The friend had it done in January, and during the process ended up with a couple of staph infections now in the bone. She has been in some kind of care facility since then. The device was taken out a couple of months ago, infection still present. I am not sure what eventually is gonna happen, but they haven't been able to stop the infection. My wife has bad knees too. I don't think you could convince her at this point to go through with the surgery.

I know a lady that had both done just before Thanksgiving one year after she finally got to the point of so much pain that she couldn't walk on her own. She was dancing (albeit slowly and gingerly) at New Year's. She said it was the best decision she had ever made.

And, yes, she had them both done at the same time.

My father had his done after many, many years of avoiding. His quality of life got so bad, that he couldn't even walk half a block because of the pain. So he stopped walking other than to and from the car, the couch, the kitchen, etc. He wasn't lazy - just in pain. When he had the surgery done, his legs muscles were so weak he ended up spending 4 weeks in a rehab facility to rebuild the strength in his legs.

Bottom line - don't wait until your quality of life is so poor. The whole point it to be pain-free and mobile afterwards.

Research and choose your Doc carefully.

Mother in law (late seventies at the time) and cousin (56 at the time) had one done.

Biggest drawback for my cousin was severe pain post-op.

Two or three years later neither of 'em ever refer to their knees at all which is a measure I guess of how effective it was.

Birdwatcher

I'm 59, and went through a very similar scenario. Three surgeries (starting in high school), worsening osteoarthritis, cortisone injections with diminishing effectiveness (I didn't get the synvisc - the knee was too far gone). Finally decided that enough was enough, and had the replacement done last June. Yes, it was worth it, although it's taken a full year to really recover. The initial PT is pretty rugged, but I've been back to a "normal" exercise routine for the last 3 or 4 months. Still not sure how it's going to react when I get into the field this fall.

Staph infection can come from ANY visit to hospital with surgery really. No big deal there other than pick carefully IMHO.

RE replacments, all I know, grandma had hers done 30 years ago or more. One at a time. First one she said therapy was so painful she kinda slacked.... the knee never was good as new.

2nd she didn't care how bad therapy was, she did it all and it was a great result.

Don't get to close to the campfire though... I heard those plastic knees can melt... LOL. Probably are not even plastic these days.

Only thing I would look hard at, life expectancy of replacement vs current age and expected age and quality of life etc... IE wait a few years and never have to have it down twice, I might consider...

Been wondering about that too.

Also what you said rost.....life expectancy of the joint, as I certainly don't want to have to do it again.

My dad has his left replaced last year at age 79. He put his walker/cane/crutch down after 10 days and never picked it up again. He's doing great now, but this verified what I already knew about pops....he's the toughest man I've ever known.

had both mine done one at 67 0ther just befor 69 .best thing i've done for my knees and back, no longer bowllegged less back pain.some pain and discomfort under the knee caps as they are removed during the op and take a while to recover . hard to kneel with out pads.

was driving before 4 weeks with the first 2 weeks for the second.
physio can be tough but thats where you learn that u have to endure some pain to progress, 5 sessions usually was enough 4 me and i was pretty good to go.can't start phy till scar is totaly healed and no pool exercises till scar is healed, keep clean --do what Doc says -- u should b good to go.

make sure that u have enough pain meds to do first 4 days and then reduce as soon as possibel . slept in my easy chair for a week and half ,couple of pee bottles so u don't have to get up at night.
Wife thats a loving nurse really help.

any more questions , PM me

good luck
norm

I had my left knee totally replaced by a good Surgeon.It was a year before I could do anything I wanted to do.The knee still bothers me,but not as bad as it was before.It aint the same as a real knee.Before the surgery,both knees hurt me.Now my right knee(Non surgery knee)is just fine.My opinion,it works but I am not thrilled about it.

Dad had his a couple of years ago at 73. He waited too long to have it done but it's been a huge improvement. If you need it I wouldn't put it off.

Believe me, when it gets bad enough, the life expectancy of the replacement joint becomes a secondary consideration. If I wear it out and have to go through it again when I'm 75, so be it.

My Mom & Dad both had one knee done, results/outcome was fine in both cases. I have had both hips replaced at the same time, I waited till the pain was so bad that oxycodone didn't have much effect. If I knew how well it would go, I would have done it much sooner. I did not even finish all the pain meds they sent me home from the hospital with. Modern anesthesia is so effective that you needn't fear the surgery, If you are experiencing pain post surgery you need to talk to your doctor. He has many different meds available to help control pain, he may increase your dosage or try a different medication. If the pain occurs during the time that you are going to rehab, remember take your meds a half hour before rehab and ice for 20-30 mins after. You will be given exercises to do at home, these are as important as the ones you do with your PT. Do exactly what they prescribe, no more and no less. Doing so is critical to a good outcome. Your doctor will tell you that you will be as good as you're going to get at one year post surgery. In my case improvement continued into the second year, mostly increased range of motion.

Dad had his done over the past two years. He is getting around so much better these days. If the doctor told me that it was in the cards for me, I'd do it and not look back.

Back in the 80's they were saying the service life of a total knee was about 10 years. However, when I had my total knees done ('05 and '06) they had found that the median service life for those 1980's prostheses was 27 years and growing. The prostheses they're putting in now are expected to last even longer. Mine have a Teflon bearing in them that can be replaced with minimal surgery (basically, a knee scope).

Basically, the new TKA's will outlive you.

All I know is recovery times don't decrease with age.

That would be nice, and I hope you're right, but my surgeon was not so optimistic. 15-20 years is the impression I got.

Couldn't agree more SH.

Doc, what is a TKA? I take it that's the artificial joint? I also know to expect pain during therapy, as I've been through all that 4 times already and take it seriously. Were you guys able to get around decently after a month or so? I've got a trip planned for mid October.....30 yr anniversary thingy I better not bail out of.

My right knee has been bone on bone for 20 years. I was having a lot of pain and was planning on surgery this year. On a "how can I spend 30 bucks whim", I bought a too good to be true product I saw advertised on TV to fix stuff like I had, Instaflex, and after taking about 8-12 pills the pain was gone. Your supposed to take one or two (maybe 3) a day, but I didn't and have taken maybe another 4 or 6 in the last 7-8 months just when the pain comes back. A capsule or two nails it for a couple months. I like it.

TKA - "Total Knee Arthroplasty". There's also a "partial" arthroplasty.

You'll be able to get around after a month, although you might still be using a cane.

To echo what some others have posted... get it done, you won't regret it. I can't say I would recommend having both done at the same time, though. I had my left done first, then the right done a year and a half later. Prior to the first surgery I walked with 2 canes for a while, it was so bad. Now I walk anywhere I want, backpack, hunt, wade streams and fish, you name it. Just don't wuss out on the rehab. No pain, no gain.

Best money I ever spent, other than the penis reduction surgery.

OK Thanks. I've tried every over the counter thing, and a couple of those TV offer things to no avail. I've been taking two Aleve every morning for 4 years now and that does help.

Doc, my first two surgeries, one on each knee, was back in the late '80's, and I did them both at the same time. It turned out to not be such a great idea for me, as I could not rehab properly I was so unstable for so long. I didn't have a "good" leg to favor so as to properly rehab the other one. That was right after I was done playing pro ball as a catcher.....that's what started all this stuff.

Yeah, I was on Aleve too, but it caused liver enzymes to rise after a while. IIRC, I was walking without a cane in 4 weeks after each surgery.

I had to get that procedure done twice!

First one didn't take...

my fil had both knees replaced at the same time. soon he was up, walking and talking. he was up in his 70's.

based upon a sample of one (or two?), evidence suggests that it tends to work.

LMAO..........mine's only 2"............from the ground.

Go get them done, but before you do, go to the Physical therapist and find out what goals they have for you post op, then start the stretching exercises before the operation get the proper movement before the knife.

You better get your knees done......and soon.

My dad had both replaced and it was a disaster....

His quality of life will never be the same.

You bastid........

Sorry to hear that GregW. What happened if you don't mind?

I had my bad knee replaced in July of 2013 at age 70. I hunted elk in Colorado that October and deer here in New Mexico in November, the first time in a long time that I was able to go up and down the mountains without pain. The surgeon that did mine employs minimally invasive computer-assisted surgery and I would suggest that you check into it.

There is a lot of pain for the first couple of weeks and my doctor urged me to use the pain meds and stay ahead of the pain so that I could do the simple rehab exercises that he recommended. I was walking a mile each day and driving three weeks after the surgery. A friend who had her surgery on the same day by the same surgeon did not follow his instructions. She took a lot longer and endured a lot more pain before she was able to get back to normal activities.

I recommended my doctor to an older friend here in the valley (age 77) and he had both of his knees done, although not at the same time. I loaned him my stationary bike but he didn't like to use it and it took him a few weeks longer with each knee to get back to getting around good. I had recalled the advice from my wife's friend Jim Reynolds, who did have both knees done at the same time. He said, "If you have 'em both done at the same time, you'd better have someone around who is willing to wipe your ass for you!"

That's remarkable, mudhen. There's no way in hell I would have been able to hunt three months after my surgery. I was still on a cane after two.

Yeah, I was thinking about Olin when reading this.

Greg's right. His dad ain't good.

What I"m reading here, that each body can be different, but also a HUGE thing, and you know this, pick your doctor very carefully. GEt a LOT Of references and TALK to them.

Would be the only way I"d go and if it took a year to come to a comfortable decision and I had to fly somewhere further away ... I would...

And repeat, follow therapy to a T, do what they say, and more if allowed, but if not, then don't....

My mom had both of hers replaced at the same time. IIRC, it took about 3 mths of therapy, but she went back to work as a nurse and worked several more years. She told me, if she had known it would stop the pain and she could walk/work again, she would have had it done years earlier.

I have to agree on the "pick your doctor wisely" deal. There are a lot of orthopedic surgeons out there, and some ain't very good. The guy who did both my knees was the only doc in the city I'd let touch me, based on my experience treating post-op patients in the ED and based on recommendations of the OR nurses. OR nurses can give you a lot of good info, but don't just take ONE nurse's opinion. Nurses can get wet panties for a jerk and tell you that he's God's Gift, when he ain't. Just sayin'.

And a month of hotel bills to boot. But I hear you on not going to the first doctor. Though I'm not inclined to fly someplace for a surgery I can fly back from in a short time.

I've had 5 knee surgeries starting at age 13. Just had my ACL done again 3 years ago. They say I'll have to have a replacement at an early age and I'm not looking forward to it.

My last knee surgery took a few hours longer than planned. My friend did my anesthesia and said he kept asking the Dr. what was taking so long. He said the surgeon just kept saying how the hell did he walk into the hospital on this hamburger.

I had re-injured it 2 months earlier and told him I thought something was wrong. He did the old give it a few months and we'll see. I went to work every day on it and spent the evenings remodeling a rental house. When they finally opened me up they found a bone chunk the size of a penny loose in the joint that had been tearing up everything. I had 6 large cartilage tears, a torn acl and needed a notchplasty to remove some bone.

I wish I wouldn't have let them have me wait two months for surgery I could have avoided some pain and done less damage.

Bb

I had a TKR in 2004, I'm now 68 so was in my 50's when done. I was an RN, now retired; worked 12 hour shifts. Felt like a bad toothache in my knee by the end of each shift. This was the result of a sports injury when I was about 16. Before surgery I was about to quit hunting as anything thicker than a golf course type footing was painful. Rehab took around 7 weeks, then I was back to work with no restrictions. I've since got myself a lab and trained it to retrieve; have been pheasant hunting in South Dakota the past 8 years and there was no way that would have been possible prior to the surgery.

If you need to do it to save your lifestyle, do it now and don't even think about longetivity. If you can't do what you love now, what makes you think it will get easier by putting it off.

And, anaesthesia will probably be easier to deal with in your 50's than 70's.

Best of luck on your choice.

I had my knee and half my knee cap replaced in Nov. The knee healed up but my cap still hasnt healed up totally. The doc said it would take up to a year to heal. I still have a clicking in the knee every step i take he says that will go away also. I am glad i did it they had to put me back under and manipulate it after about 3 months as it wasnt bending far enough back due to excess scar tissue build up. If you do have it done absolutly do your therapy as directed.

My dad had one replace last year, he's having the second one done this year. He's 83. A buddy had one replaced at age 46, he's now 54 and having the other one done. Neither had any problems.

My wife had one replaced, she didn't do the PT like she was supposed to and had some problems but eventually got better.

Go for it, just find a good surgeon and do the PT.

Dale

if it is affecting your quality of life have it done....but as the others say be careful who you let do it and do your homework there....and be in as good of shape as you can get yourself in before you go under the knife and do not be afraid of pain meds coming out the other end, being pain free to do all the physical terrorist wants you to do will do wonders in getting you back to as close to 100% as your going to get....trying to tough out pain is only going to prolong the healing and quite possibly not allow you to get full flexibility back

Had both of mine replaced at the same time in 2002 at age 58. Had a bit of a time talking my surgeon into doing both together, but he finally agreed to. Doing the therapy religiously is a big secret to recovery. I had one big advantage in that I had my own private nurse and she didn't let me get by with anything contrary to what the PT folks told her. She also made sure I did my exercises when I was supposed to. I called her a slave driver but it all paid off in the long run. I got back my full range of motion I had before surgery in both knees. I was back to work in 8 weeks with no restrictions.

I have had great results thus far and would encourage anyone to have the surgery. As mentioned above prostheses are much better than they used to be.

I was 54 yrs old, and after 2 knee surgeries on each knee, a couple of rounds of synvisc injections every year for 3 years, and cortisone injections 3-4 times per year for 6 years. The bone on bone "toothache" got so bad (one when I moved and the other when I rested it...I hadn't slept well in a couple of years due to the pain....) I had had enough. The doc said let's test your legs to see which is your better one so it can help during rehab of the other....well neither was good enough to help with rehab, so we did both at the same time.

Like everyone has told you, the rehab is the worst part. My story: I was on an archery only lease. Hunted the opening weekend and went in for surgery on the Monday. Discharged from the hospital on Saturday, which would have been on Thursday, but had a drug reaction when the hospital staff changed my cholesterol meds... A tough 2 more weeks of therapy and I was in a ground blind on the 25th day after surgery. I had some great hunting partners that let me have the closest blind and did my tracking/deer recovery for me when I shot my first Texas archery buck that day. I got my first turkey with my bow the next day. I will admit that I was slow and wobbly walking on the washed out 2 track road...Where there is a will there is a way. :-)

I didn't hunt from any tree stands post surgery that season...the new knees just couldn't power up more than 6 inch steps for the first 3 months and all of our ladder stands and tree stands had 12" or better rungs/steps. And getting out of a sleeping bag and up off the ground to pee in the middle of the night on an overnight hunt was challenging.

After a few months most didn't know I ever had my knees replaced. It is a painful few weeks post surgery and during rehab, but pain free mobility makes it worth it. I still don't do much kneeling without knee pads if I can help it.

Git-her done! The sooner you start the sooner you a through it!

Scott

JG, unfortunalely ive known of a few people who fought post-op staph infections subsequent to surgery a year or so before dying, so thats one of my main concers. Hospital aquired staph is often very serious as it is antibiotic resistant (mrsa). I'd really want to know about the risk of such along with the surgeons skill.

What bothers me is i have some pts who did great with a particular surgeon and others who had pure misery from the same guy.

PM sent.

I had my right knee replaced at age 47 after about 20 years of constant pain from military injuries. The pain was so intense before the surgery that sleeping was impossible. The rehab after the procedure was painful, real painful, for about 10 days. For me, I found that by forcing myself to push through the pain, knowing that it would pass, for that really bad period right after surgery, made all the difference. By the 2 month period post-op, I was pain free and my quality of life was FANTASTIC. One of the best decisions I ever made, but for 2 weeks I had to push myself to the point of almost passing out to see such quick results.

Again, do your homework with respect to the surgeon that you choose. The guy that did mine doesn't use any of the downtown hospitals in Tucson--he does all his surgery out at Oro Valley, which is without a doubt the best run hospital that I have ever been in. The only other surgeon that I would have considered uses a Tucson hospital where I had some neurosurgery performed several years ago, and I would not willingly go back there. This was not the deciding factor, but it was important to me.

I've seen the very best consequences and the very worst with total knee replacements within my family all within the last 5 years. By worst, I mean absolutely the worst. I'm still of the opinion that if I got to the point that I couldn't function without pain, I would undoubtedly do it. There is an aspect to having a good quality of life that can't be had while pain is always in the forefront of ones mind. As said before in other posts: do your research, pick a doctor AND hospital wisely(you may look at dedicated surgery centers), and go above and beyond on PT. If you do all that I'm quite confident that you'll be much better off. Good luck to you.

If synvisc and cortisone are still working, then it's not time for the TKR yet; trust me!

How so?

I don't know about full replacement, but I do know that the Doc choice and the rehab are critical.

I had a knee cut on two years ago and the rehab prescribed was just a fraction of what needed to be done to get my strength back. Be ready to get in the weight room.

Good luck.

I've known several people who've had that as well as hip replacement. All have had positive outcomes. One guy I know took a lot longer to recover than expected for some reason, but did recover. All are glad they did it.

The only negative is that you are younger than they prefer to do it too. It isn't a permanent fix. Get it done now and you'll likely need it again in 20 years or so. They really prefer to do it on folks in their mid 60's or older. But if things are that bad now it may best to just do it.

Did it in 2010 and could not be happier. As everyone says do the rehab. A friend had his done about a year before me and got off the pain meds too quick and could not do the rehab as hard as needed. I stayed on the pain meds and work rehab as hard as I could and had great results.

I am a Physical Therapist in Nebraska. Work in a smaller hospital & outpatient setting. We have done TKA's here several years and one of our docs has been using a local injection during the operation INSTEAD of a nerve block. We have seen an easier recovery, less pain and better ROM (Range of Motion) in the knee immediately post-op. And generally a faster total recovery.
I'm not sure what the drugs are, but a concoction of drugs are injected into the knee before surgery, instead of a nerve block. Really has worked.
I'd suggest at least looking into this when you choose to have you knee done (sooner or later).
Total recovery time really depends on the individual. Might be as short as 2 weeks post-op or up to 8-10 weeks. Depends on amounts of pain, how well motion recovers and strength. Also over-doing things (walking too much, stairs, farming, etc too much too soon) makes healing take longer!!
I'd also recommend sooner than later. The longer you wait, the more changes that take place in your muscles. The muscles themselves can shorten/adapt to a bad knee alignment and makes recovery harder after surgery. You don't want to have your knees bowlegged or flexed (not be able to straighten them) for years - they may never straighten even after surgery.

Excellent MarkD, Thanks for the information, and everyone else for that matter. Doc appt. scheduled for 8/13 for consultation. I'll try to ask him a few questions brought up here.

TKA= total knee arthroplasty= knee replacement 😊

It is potentially one of the more painful recoveries ameliorated by someone who knows how to do good femoral and sciatic nerve blocks or alternately the use of Exparel, a long-acting solution of Marcaine, a local anesthetic, added to the wound as the orthopod closes the wound. With either you will also need a general or spinal or epidural anesthetic.

Physical therapy is crucial and started immediately for best range of motion of the new joint.

Don't wait too long.

A friend spent 40+ years installing floors, carpet, tile, wood, you name it.
Point is his knees were a TRAIN WRECK.
He finally had 'em both done at the same time a couple years ago. He wishes he'd done it 20 years earlier.
He's actually a couple inches taller than was pre-op, because he can now stand up straight.

I had both of my knees replaced when I was in my mid-50's (I'm 61 now) and, as many others have remarked, it was one of the best decisions I ever made. On the flip-side, I know several people whose knee-replacement surgeries turned out to be disasters from which they never recovered. I'm lucky that both of my surgeries went without a hitch.

I found the rehab to be unexpectedly painful, but it's absolutely essential that you tough it out. For my first knee, I went to regular physical therapy sessions. For my second knee (replaced about six months after the first), I simply did my own rehab at a gym. Either way, the importance of diligent physical therapy cannot be overstated.

Finally, I agree that it's vital that you research ortho surgeons before choosing one to replace your knee(s). If you get a good one, you'll congratulate yourself for the rest of your life.