Arthritis can be divided into osteoarthritis and inflammatory arthritis. The most well known inflammatory arthritis is rheumatoid arthritis.
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory disease that affects many joints in the body. It normally starts in the small joints of the hands and feet but can progress to affect larger joints such as the shoulders, elbows, hips and knees.
Modern medical treatment of rheumatoid arthritis has resulted in less patients requiring surgery. It has slowed the disease significantly and joint replacements are less common in patients with rheumatoid arthritis than they used to be. However when the disease has reached a stage where significant damage to the joint surface has occurred, then joint replacement surgery is a very effective treatment.
Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis is often termed "wear and tear" and may occur sometime after an injury or trauma. It is often a slowly progressive degenerative joint disease. It can cause significant pain at rest, at night and with activity or exercise. It can limit mobility and may be associated with swelling and sometimes deformity.
In the early phases of osteoarthritis treatment is with activity modification, suitable painkillers and physiotherapy. If symptoms progress to cause significant limitations, then joint replacement surgery may be appropriate.
Hip Replacement
When hip arthritis causes significant limitations and has a significant affect on the quality of life, then a hip replacement is often required.
Hip replacement surgery is one of the most successful operations available to patients, with a very high success rate, and very high patient satisfaction level. There are some risks with major surgery, and your surgeon should discuss the operation, outcomes and potential risks
with you.
My aim is to provide you with the most appropriate information and advice to enable you to make an informed decision regarding surgery.
Knee Replacement
Although the knee is essentially one joint, it is composed of three "compartments". Arthritis may affect one, two, or all three compartments. If the arthritis is isolated to one area of the knee then a partial knee replacement may be appropriate. If it has caused significant deterioration in several compartments of the knee then a total knee replacement may be necessary.
Knee replacement surgery is good at improving pain and mobility, and your surgeon should discuss the operation, outcomes and potential risks with you. My aim is to provide you with the most appropriate information and advice to enable you to make an informed decision regarding surgery.