If your joints make popping, catching, locking and clicking sounds with pain, its time to be alert and see an experienced orthopedician. A little surgical intervention can save you from undergoing total knee replacement surgery - at least for a decade.Dr Ramesh Sen, Director Orthopedics Fortis Hospital Mohali and former Professor of Orthopedics at PGIMER Chandigarh, said while addressing media on the issue of dilemma in management of knee diseases.
Dr Ramesh was in city to address the doctors of Mandi and Sunder Nagar giving updates regarding the protocols of management of knee before it becomes symptomatic.Dr Ramesh Sen also emphasized that timely performed surgery of high tibial osteotomy can add years of useful lower limbs, without the risk, when performed timely.Once that stage passes, this small surgery also cannot be done. He further emphasized that the awareness for the disease pathology must be well understood.A high tibial osteotomy is generally considered a method of prolonging the time before knee replacement is necessary because the benefits typically fade after eight to ten years.This procedure is typically reserved for younger patients with pain resulting from instability and malalignment.
Giving a word of suggestion to the doctors attending talk, Dr Sen added while making decision about requirement for a patient to undergo surgery one should consider patient's age, degree of functional disability, level of pain, and expectations for outcomes of the treatment need to be considered."A thorough history and a clinical examination focusing on determining levels and the location of pain and stiffness are essential. In an open discussion, patient should be counselled for treatment options, he added.
What is high tibial osteotomy?
High Tibial Osteotomy is a joint preservation surgery to repair damage to cartilages inflicted by osteoarthritis and malalignment.Patients with suffering from degenerative arthritis experience a successive wearing of cartilage, which gets toen. These degenerative processes limit the ability of the knee to glide smoothly and results in popping, catching, locking, clicking and pain.In malalignment, unbalanced forces cause excessive pressure on either in the inner or outer portion of knee. A partial or total knee replacement can correct this condition when joint damage is beyond repair.Osteotomy can realign knee, taking pressure off the damaged side. The high tibial osteotomy wedges open upper shin bone to reconfigure the knee joint. The weight-bearing part of the knee is shifted from degenerative or worn tissue onto healthier tissue.
Beware of nutritional products marketing relief for joints:
Dr Sen warned against nutritional products marketed as a treatment drugs for the painful knee joint whose effectiveness do not hold scientific evidence.He said were many nutritional products marketed as a treatment drugs for the painful knee joint. Many of these do not hold scientific evidence and hence a policy formulation is needed to control it.He emphasized on use of right kind of medication and more concentration on physical modalities.