Research suggests that up to one-third of those who have knees replaced continue to experience chronic pain, while 1 in 5 are dissatisfied with the results. A study published last year in the BMJ found that knee replacement had “minimal effects on quality of life,” especially for patients with less severe arthritis.The article references a study entitled "Impact of Total Knee Replacement Practice". The study concludes:
The practice of total knee replacement as performed in a recent US cohort of patients with knee osteoarthritis had minimal effects on quality of life. If the procedure were restricted to patients with more severe functional status, however, its effectiveness would rise.There are supposed to be 3.5 million knee replacements a year by 2030. A third of those patients, more than 1.1 million people, will continue to experience chronic pain. That's insane. Surely I can help a few thousand of them not to need this painful and expensive procedure in the first place!
Read my post How You Get Chronic Knee Pain.
