The first knee replacement surgery was performed in the year 1968 and since then it has undergone various reformative stages finally making it one of the most successful medical procedures. Also known as total knee replacement or knee arthroplasty, knee replacement surgery is conducted to replace a knee that has been damaged either due to arthritis or a major injury.

When medications and other sorts of superficial treatments fail to relieve you from the pain then that is the time when you should consider knee replacement surgery. It is the best option to relieve you from the long time chronic knee pain, correcting the deformity in the leg and letting you carry on with your normal activities.

The basic procedure involves replacing the damaged knee with metal and plastic parts that are attached with the end of the bones that forms the joints along with the knee cap.

Types of Arthritis That Affects The Knees

There are three main types of Arthritis that affects the knees, damaging them to the level of disability.

Osteoarthritis — Commonly found in people who are 50+ in age, this type of arthritis mostly occurs due to the years of use of the knee joints. The cartilage that cushions the knee bones starts getting fragile and then wears away. The bones without the cover of cartilage start rubbing to each other… the reason for all that chronic knee pain and stiffness.

Rheumatoid arthritis — Also called as “inflammatory arthritis” is caused due to the inflammation in synovial membrane that engulfs the joint. The inflammation eventually damages the cartilage leading to pain and stiffness.

Post-traumatic arthritis — This type of arthritis is mainly caused due to a severe knee injury. Fractures in the bone that are around the knee area might damage the articular cartilage during the course of time resulting into knee pain and restricted functioning of knee.