What Are Joint Replacement Surgeries?
You may need joint replacement surgery if you damage a joint or suffer severe joint deterioration. This damage could be due to:
- Acute trauma: These injuries occur once, resulting in noticeable pain that requires immediate attention. They often happen during sports events or car accidents.
- Arthritis (particularly osteoarthritis): This condition causes pain in the joints because of how it affects the cartilage.
- Repetitive stress injuries: These issues begin as a result of repetitive movements.
- Osteonecrosis (bone death): This condition begins when there is reduced blood going to the bone, eventually causing the bone to die.
Joint replacement surgeries effectively address these serious issues when other treatments are ineffective or unsuitable.
Joint damage can be excruciating and interfere with your ability to lead a normal life. However, technological advancements and new surgical techniques make replacement surgeries safer and implants longer-lasting than ever before.
What Joint Replacement Surgeries Might I Need?
Knee and hip replacement surgeries are the most common, but you can also benefit from surgery of the shoulder, wrist, elbow, or ankle. It's now possible to replace small joints in the toes and fingers as well. Some common joint replacement surgeries include the following.
Reverse Total Shoulder Replacement
If you have severe shoulder instability from repeated dislocations or rotator cuff tears, your surgeon may switch the position of the ball and socket elements. This improves stability without severely impacting your range of motion.
Total Hip Replacement
An unhealthy hip can cause severe pain. Our surgeons can replace the ball of your femur and hip bone socket with metal components. These artificial parts can reduce pain and help you imitate the normal movement of your hip.
Revision Hip Surgery
If you've already had an artificial hip implant, it may at some point become infected, damaged, or worn. To fix this issue, your surgeon can remove the old components and insert new ones. This surgery could become more complex if your first hip replacement resulted in a bad bone infection.
Total Knee Replacement
If the joints in your knee are severely damaged, you may need a total knee replacement. The doctor will make an incision on your knee for this surgery and remove damaged portions of the femur, tibia, and cartilage. Then, the surgeon inserts metal and plastic components that will operate similarly to a natural knee.
Ankle Replacement
Injury and arthritis are the most common reasons for needing an ankle replacement. During this procedure, the doctor will go into your ankle and remove the damaged bone. The surgeon will then insert plastic and metal pieces to act as the new ankle joint.
What Types of Replacement Do Joint Specialists in Nashville Offer?
There are several types of joint replacement surgeries available:
Total Joint Replacement
In this procedure, your surgeon at Elite Sports Medicine and Orthopedics removes the ends of both bones in the joint and replaces them with artificial components.
Partial Joint Replacement
If the end of one of the bones in the joint is still sound, your surgeon may only need to remove part of the other bone. Partial joint replacement is less common than total joint replacement.
Revision Joint Replacement
Revision surgery might be necessary if you've already received a new joint but something has worn out or malfunctioned. These surgeries are highly complex.
The type of joint replacement surgery needed depends on your joint condition and factors like your age and other health problems. Our surgeons can operate on ankles, knees, shoulders, and hips.
How is Joint Replacement Surgery Performed?
Joint replacement specialists may perform open surgery for some replacements. Open surgery involves making a large incision in the affected area of your body. The doctor will examine the cartilage and bones at the joint, remove damaged portions, and install a replacement. In some cases, it's possible to use minimally invasive arthroscopic techniques.
An arthroscope is a narrow, flexible tube fitted with a camera placed inside your joint through a tiny incision. The arthroscope's camera sends back images of the inside of the joint to a monitor that your surgeon uses to guide the surgery. Arthroscopy causes significantly less damage to the tissues surrounding your joints, so you feel less pain and recover more quickly. Commonly, the knee and shoulder are operated on through arthroscopic surgery.
How Long Does a Joint Replacement Last?
There are a variety of factors that affect the longevity of a joint replacement. Age, activity level, and weight can all have an influence on how long a joint replacement will last. In general, you can expect your joint replacement to last 15-20 years.
Contact Elite Sports Medicine and Orthopedics for Joint Replacement Surgery
Joint replacement surgeries can significantly reduce your pain. Shoulder, knee, and hip issues limit how well your body functions. While you can treat these problems with physical therapy and medication, surgery can correct long-term and severe damage. Elite Sports Medicine and Orthopedics has highly trained specialists for joint replacement surgeries.
Our joint replacement surgeons practice the least-invasive techniques to help you recover quickly. Artificial joints can help you live the lifestyle you want. If you have joint pain and other treatments aren't working, call one of our locations to discuss joint replacement surgeries. Or, book an appointment online with a Nashville joint replacement specialist today.
Our Joint Replacement Surgery Specialists
