Essential knee terminology
UKR search for term

UKR is an abbreviation of 'unicompartmental knee replacement'.

Ultrasound search for term

Ultrasound consists of very high frequency sound waves.

Umbilical stem cells search for term

Umbilical stem cells are primitive cells within the blood of the infant's umbilical cord that are capable of differentiating into many different types of cells.

Unhappy triad search for term

The unhappy triad (of O'Donoghue) is the name given to a combination injury of a meniscal tear, medial collateral ligament tear and anterior cruciate ligament tear of the knee.

Page updated February 2024 by Dr Sheila Strover (Clinical Editor)

Unicompartmental search for term

Unicompartmental means relating to one of the three compartments of the knee.

Unicompartmental arthritis search for term

Unicompartmental arthritis is joint destruction affecting only the one side of a knee, very often the medial (or inner) side.

Unicompartmental arthroplasty search for term

Unicompartmental arthroplasty is a replacement of the joint in only one of the three knee compartments.

Unicompartmental knee replacement search for term

A unicompartmental knee replacement is a surgical procedure where the surgeon just replaces one part of an arthritic joint.

Unispacer search for term

A unispacer is a small metallic wedge which is sometimes used in knee surgery to correct the deformity of a meniscectomy (removal of the meniscus) and improve the consequent imbalance of forces after meniscectomy.

Unloader search for term

An 'unloader' is a device - like a brace - which changes the forces going through the knee in order to protect a damaged side.

Unloader brace search for term

An unloader brace is a knee brace that subtly alters the alignment of the knee as weight is taken to reduce the forces going through a vulnerable part of the knee.

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