This commentary is in reply to part of Lady's last comment and question ...
"Another Question for you all.......I'm a preschool teacher and I am very busy for most of the day not sitting much and when I do in very low seats. So the question is how long do you all think before someone can go to work with that type of job?"_______________
Keep in mind that a HTO is major surgery ... it is like having your leg broken - but on purpose. I was able to function after four months - but I undertook a very aggressive exercise regime - and I was in top shape prior to the surgery. It does take, in my opinion, at least six months to recover from the HTO surgery.
Lady, please note that I have about 10 years (age) on you and had an HTO three and one half years ago. A late 40s kind of person. Not old. I am a very active woman with a very high-level of exercise in my life. The HTO has been an absolute blessing.
If you think that you would have issues with an HTO, I would advise that you cruise this website and evaluate the unfortunate situations that you people (young people like you and like me) are having because of Knee Replacements. After a knee replacement, there is no going back. Many total knee replacements involve severing and then discarding the ligaments - to install the artificial knee. So one's activity is not meant to be high after total knee replacement.
And with a knee replacement, there is no going back also - because the articulating ends of your bones that comprise your knee joint - are gone - sawed off to fit with the knee replacement.
In my humble opinion, there is way too much application of this surgery on people who could have other treatments done for them - but surgeons putting in artificial knees provides a continuous source of profit for the companies that produce these things - and of course folks, companies' objectives are to corner a market and make a profit.
So, instead of research into biological remedies (which in my opinion, should be at the forefront of medical training and orthopaedic research), OS's become replacers of body parts - and these body parts
do wear out - and, if not put in properly, or, even
if put in properly, there are a lot of things that can go wrong - and essentially you would have only a few opportunities to have the knee replacement re-replaced and re-done. Because every time there is a knee replcement surgery on one person's knee, bone stock is lost because the ends of the bone where the replacement go have to be re-carved to fit the new replacement. And the edge of the bone where the knee replacement meets the bone often degrades (read up on osteopenia <bone loss> relating to knee replacements). Bone loss occurs because of the wear and tear your bone will naturally experience at the site where the bone meets the metal (titanium steel) knee joint replacement. Metal is harder than bone, and therefore the every day pounding and normal activity of daily life that you undertake results in the bone giving way and crumbling (just a bit) - if you are young and active and intend to continue having a long and active life. Because it sure as heck will not be the metal giving way - because metal is solid; bone is porous. In truth, (in my humble opinion), knee replacements just do not make sense - other than for the very old and very sedentary.
I have seen a variety of people become
professional patients for life as a result of having knee replacements - be it using vast amounts of pain medication, seeing OSs regularly for follow-up on continuing knee joint clicking problems and joint laxity problems after the knee replacement, infection that will not go away, back pain (because the knee replacement was not put in properly, and one's walking gait is out of whack), depression medication, physiotherapists, psychotherapists, regular pain clinic visitors, and a whole host of other issues including RSD.
I do not mean to frighten you, but I convinced my OS that "waiting" for a knee replacement would nto be the the best option. Having said that, I will never, ever, ever have a knee replacment. If need be, I will go to Europe and have "abrasion arthoplasty" to repair the articulating surfaces of my knee - and then go on and on and on into old age. There are ways to deal with knee issues other than cutting the knee out - so my question is why are orthopaedic surgeons not investigating these options rather than undertaking the Knee Replacement mantra?
I apologise if this commentary seems harsh, but I am providing you with my concerns that may very well assist you in undertaking a better long term plan for your knee issue.
The knee messes resulting from Knee Replacements are what I have seen and witnessed in other people. In reading about knee replacements on this web site, there most certainly are successes out there that should be noted and congratulated (with caution - because the proof in the pudding <as to whether a knee replacement is in fact successful> usually occurs three to five years after the knee replacement) - but invariably there are also big, big immediate (post surgery problems) as well as long term problems.
Cheers ... and my knee (which I predicted would be great <after proper HTO surgery>) continues to be GREAT!!! Even some of the top guys I saw predicted that my HTO would not be a success - and that three years later I would "need"
a knee replacement. Not true.
General Recommendation: More longitudinal study (20 - 30 year studies) seems to need to be done on patients who have had HTOs and other biological means of treatment - in otherwise
physically and
psychologically healthy, active people (from all age groups). The people who do the best with any surgeries are people with an
internal locus of control - and who feel they are in command of themselves.
Knee-will-be-great!!!
