Joint replacement surgeries are typically performed as treatment for advanced or “end-stage” arthritis. Joints are replaced when other treatment modalities are no longer effective, such as oral medication, physical therapy, various injectable materials and even joint arthroscopy. When bones are rubbing together because cartilage surfaces have been significantly eroded away, the pain can be disabling.

In addition to pain, joint replacement surgeries are frequently advised to treat angular deformities that accompany the degenerative process. Severe varus or valgus (“bow-legged” or “knock-knee” respectively) deformities can create problems with correction and restoring the limb to a more “normal” anatomic alignment. It’s better to correct these deformities before they get out of hand and surgery/correction becomes extremely difficult, for the patient and the surgeon.

Before we embark on elaborating on different joint replacement procedures, I’d like to explain just one thing: Many people mistakenly think that having a joint replaced means that their entire joint, thigh-bone (femur), shin-bone (tibia) and patella (knee cap) are surgically removed and a complete “new joint” is inserted.

Not so.

Joint replacement in the knee is more like a re-surfacing of the joint surfaces, something akin to “capping a tooth”. The arthritic surfaces of the femur, tibia and patella are shaved off with the use of specialty “jigs” that allow for the bones to be shaped in a specific fashion, to correspond to the shapes of the implants. The “host” bone remains intact. The only exceptions to this rule can include severe infections, trauma and oncologic (cancer) salvage procedures.