Degenerative disorders of the hip and knee are numerous and caused by different factors; traumas, injuries, wear due to high impact activities or simply genetic predisposition can contribute to the onset of pain and functional limitations that negatively influence the quality of life to the point of greatly reducing normal daily activity.
Independent of the cause and the disorder that produced it, hip and knee joint pain can be controlled, and sometimes cured, through the use of drugs, exercise, rehabilitative therapy and minor surgery. However, when the conditions are such that they can no longer be controlled, the only solution is to replace the joint with an artificial prosthesis.
Hip and knee joint prosthetic surgery has greatly improved the quality of life for millions of people by alleviating pain and restoring function and movement of joints affected by arthrosis-degenerative pathologies.
Patients with a successful joint prosthesis are able to recommence common daily functions such as walking, stairs and common recreation, without pain.
But if some patients are satisfied when they achieve these basic objectives, others expect to be able to resume even high impact sports and hobbies. If you are considering prosthetic surgery, you should have an open and honest meeting with your surgeon regarding your pain reduction and functional recovery expectations after the surgery. In this way you can understand what to expect from the first phases of recovery to the final result.
Keeping in mind the disorder that affects you and your unique physical and mental conditions before the intervention, the surgeon will define the objectives and the expectations regarding your recovery.
Having unrealistically high expectations can lead to disappointment in the final result.
Having, on the other hand, low expectations, can negatively influence your rehabilitative process and full recovery.
It is thus necessary and fundamental to have an in-depth interview with your surgeon before the intervention in order to ensure that the expectations of both are aligned to obtain the highest level of satisfaction from the surgical intervention you are about to undergo.
In Italy, approximately 200,000 hip and joint prostheses are implanted each year. Although these procedures lead to mostly positive results, artificial joints still have a limited lifespan (about 20-25 years for the hip and 15-20 for the knee); wear on materials leads to the mobilization of the prosthesis and joint instability. In these cases it is necessary to perform a maintenance intervention which consists of removing the old prosthesis and implantation of a new one. This procedure, more complex than the first implantation, also has higher risks and limited results from a functional point of view.
These reasons have pushed both surgeons and the companies and industries that work in the orthopedic field to try and increase the performance of the prostheses and prolong their longevity.
This has been possible through improvements in surgical techniques, instruments and with the use of new materials which are increasingly technologically advanced, to reduce wear due to the friction of the movement cycles to which the new joint is subjected.
Accurate pre-operative planning, the use of innovative software including navigators and surgical robots have made these interventions extremely sophisticated, with better results that are more easily replicated.
Minimally invasive techniques to conserve soft tissues, especially muscles, has also reduced recovery time and long-term performance. Having a prosthetic joint, today, is no longer considered a disability, but rather a new opportunity to improve quality of life for all of us.