I know quite a few doctors read this forum so I was wondering if anyone (but not necessarily a doc) knew how much activity a person can return to after having their knee replaced?
I’m asking for my dad who is 65y/o and considering this option. He used to be a runner and would absolutely love to run again but heck, he’d settle for not being in pain after a short hike. His knee was demolished in a 1957 ACL/MCL reconstruction attempt and he has no cartlidge at all left in it…and you can probably imagine the arthritis is getting pretty bad. Otherwise he is in good shape and keeps quite active with lots of sea kayaking.
How good are the new technologies? Is one preferable to another in terms of activity or recovery? Will one last longer? I know one of his fears is that he’ll need another replacement in 10yrs when the first one wears out.
There was an article published a few years ago where they surveyed knee surgeons attending the Knee Society meeting and asked them exactly what you want to know. From memory running isn’t recommended, social tennis and golf were ok. i think pain free hiking would be sensible to aim for.
In a 65 year old, total knees have a pretty good life span, not uncommonly 15 to 20 years. There is really not much new in total knees despite the companies’ hype (aside from some improvements in the plastic bearing surface) which convincingly improves life span. With a previous ACL injury he is probably not suitable for a partial aka unicondylar knee replacement.
Most people with them are very happy with the pain relief, but they say that it does not feel like their own knee (unlike a hip replacement which often does). Running is not a good idea on them, but most people who get them don’t want to run, they’re just happy being able to walk.
It’s not that you can’t physically run after a total knee, the concern is that it will increase the wear rate and damage the plastic bearing. A testimonial is therefore useless unless it says “I ran on my new knee and it has lasted 20 years” which I don’t think you will find. It’s even more of a concern than total hips because of the type of forces involved.
There is a thread on this forum about the same topic in total hips if you do a search.