Here is a scenario for you: your doctor stands over you with a brochure and tells you that you need knee replacement surgery. The brochure is very colorful and informative. The doctor reassures you that your surgery is “routine” and that your rehabilitation will be no problem. Is it ethical to make such claims? He may have even suggested that you have both knees done at the same time. Let me translate the exchange that just occurred between you and your doctor. Your doctor believes that he has just given you an option for your knee joint pain. You believe that your doctor has just given you your only option for your knee pain. Do you see the discrepancy here? Did you think to ask your doctor for any other options?

Has your doctor thoroughly examined the symptoms of your knee pain by asking you questions about it? Odds are he hasn’t. So here is what you should be asking yourself, because in most circumstances, your doctor won’t be asking you these logical questions.

• Does your joint hurt all day every day?
• Does it hurt to a lesser degree on some days?
• Are there days when it doesn’t hurt at all?

Only after these questions have been answered can you choose the correct course of action that best suits you.

Walking, running, using the stairs, bending down to pick things up, dancing in front of the mirror when you think no one is watching you… almost all of your day-to-day activities puts strain on these important joints. Add to this that your knees feel pressure equal to four times your body weight and it is understandable why knees are the most commonly injured joint of the human body. When you consider how much your knees work everyday you can see why it can be very damaging to your mobility and quality of life if your knees are hurt. Daily maintenance with knee strengthening exercises can greatly improve the health of your knees, helping to protect them from harm, or, if you already experience knee pain, act as effective knee replacement alternatives.



Knee strengthening exercises don’t focus just on the actual joint. The muscles around the knees, the hamstrings, quadriceps, abductors and adductors, provide the support structure for the joint, so keeping these strong and flexible will help reduce pain and increase range of motion. To prepare these muscles, and the knee itself, for the actual strength training, its a good idea to start with some stretching. These stretches can be as simple as a standing hamstring stretch or a sitting knee extension where you loop a towel under your foot and pull your bent knee up toward your chest for a few seconds then release. Once your muscles feel warm and loosened you can move on to the real knee strengthening exercises.

If you are strengthening your knees to ward off damage, these strengthening exercises can be more intense. However, if your knee health has already been affected and you are trying to either recover from an injury or use these as knee replacement alternatives, you should be more gentle. Even slight movements can jar an injured joint so performing strengthening exercises should be done with caution but with commitment so that the benefits can build on themselves as you progress into more difficult exercises.

Knee Strengthening Exercises: Descriptions

One subtle but very effective exercise that can begin loosening and strengthening your knees is a press, performed by sitting on a chair with your heels rested on another chair ahead of you. Using only the contraction of your thigh muscles to move the joint, slowly press the backs of your knees down toward the floor. Hold the stretch for a second and then release. To strengthen the joint from another angle, and nurture its range of motion, you can use a knee circle exercise. To do this, stand with your feet shoulder width apart and your feet firmly planted on the floor. Slightly bend your knees, lean over and put your hands on your kneecaps like you are about to do the Charleston. Using just the muscles around your knees, create small circles, going clockwise and then counter-clockwise.

Knee strengthening exercises are a great start toward protecting the health of your knees and thanking them for all the hard work they do for you every day!

Sometimes this pain is indicative of deterioration of the joint that needs to be treated. Drastic procedures such as replacement surgery do not have to be the only solution. If you don’t want to immediately turn to the operation room to ease your pain and stiffness, you have other options. There are many knee replacement alternatives that can protect and rehabilitate your joints without you having to endure major surgery and extensive therapy to recuperate, or face potential knee replacement complications.

Potential Knee Replacement Complications

Any form of major surgery can be a frightening prospect. It is well-known that invasive medical procedures like joint replacements carry with them the potential for devastating side effects and complications. Even if you know something must be done about your knees, you probably are not excited at the prospect of undergoing the surgery and lengthy recovery period, and the thought of knee replacement complications can dissuade you from seeking treatment. Risks such as infection, excessive bleeding or a bad reaction to the anesthetic can occur during any procedure.

When it comes to a knee replacement, though, there are other risks that should be considered. Infection can affect any part of the body, but after a replacement surgery it is possible that the implant itself will become infected and require further surgery to remove it. Of the more serious potential knee replacement complications, deterioration and loosening of the implant are among the most severe. With a very physically-active person, a knee replacement may degrade over time and necessitate another replacement surgery a few years later. Should the implant loosen and come in contact with the tissues of the actual knee, you could experience pain, inflammation and immobility. These complications can be completely avoided, though, by choosing to forego the major surgery and instead utilizing much safer and equally effective knee replacement alternatives.

Long before you consider knee replacement you should think about some of the knee replacement alternatives. These options can strengthen your knees and head off damage that has already begun from getting to the point where surgery might be required.

One of these alternative is making some small changes in your lifestyle that can make a big impact on the wear and tear on your knees. Something like losing weight and adopting a routine of knee strengthening exercises can help to reduce the stress on your knees and begin to rehabilitate them. If your damage is beyond what can be successfully reduced with lifestyle changes, there are several minimally-invasive procedures using microscopic technology to remove damaged cartilage. These types of procedures greatly reduce the pain, potential for knee replacement complications, and recovery time that are caused by knee replacement surgery.

FILED UNDER: Knee Replacement Complications

Degenerative diseases, such as arthritis, can create many problems relating to the knees, as well as the other joints withing the body. It has been argued whether any type of invasive procedures should qualify as one of the knee replacement alternatives. Many say if the treatment involves any sort of incision, it is conventional not alternative. However, many include “minimally-invasive” as being a new method. In one of the new knee replacement alternatives, the difference lies in the length of incision. While the conventional procedure involved an eight to eleven inch incision, this alternative reduces the cut to between four and six inches. This alternative is certainly not without significant benefits. First, there is far less damage to surrounding tissue, the hospital and recovery time is less and of course scarring from the incision is greatly reduced.

Most think of knee replacement alternatives as being a procedure which is completely non-invasive. This holds true even though some surgical procedures have been adapted to minimize their impact on the patient, such as in microscopic procedures. To many, it is still not a viable option. In regards to issues relating to arthritis, one of the knee replacement alternatives begins with three areas of the patient’s lifestyle. Instead of moving immediately to the surgical suite, the patient must focus on exercise as well as weight loss. Much research has been done to understand how the soft muscle tissue around the knee responds during activity to effectively protect the knee. This research has led to the development of various types of braces which are used during these alternatives.

Knee Replacement Alternatives: Minimally Invasive Techniques

Knee replacement alternatives are available now using minimally invasive procedures and specific changes in the patient’s lifestyle. In addition, there are physicians practicing Sports medicine who will require athletes suffering severe knee injuries to “ice” the injured knee. In addition, there is the scheduling of prolonged periods of rest for their knee. In some cases, doctors who work with athletes will involve the use of steroids in these knee replacement alternatives. Along with these treatments, is a procedure called “Arthroscopy”. Considered minimally-invasive, the physician makes a series of very small incisions into the knee. Extremely small instruments are then used to scrape, trim or smooth-out damaged or worn cartilage. These styles of alternatives will result in a decrease of instances when knee inflammation occurs.

There are some knee replacement alternatives requiring some limited surgical procedures although they do not require the replacement of the entire knee. Among these is “Cartilage Transplant”. This type of surgery is often used in cases where an injury has damaged the cartilage severely enough so as to render it untreatable by any other means. In these procedures, cartilage is removed from another area and replaces what is deemed to be useless within the knee. Unfortunately, these types of knee replacement alternatives cannot be used in some cases of arthritic degeneration because of the extent of damage already done.

Prolotherapy, another alternative, has significant benefits. Along with providing an alternative to joint replacement, it can eliminate the chance of the patient becoming addicted to some of the narcotics normally prescribed for pain. The purpose of this particular form of knee replacement alternatives is stimulating the body to begin healing itself. During this therapy, the physician injects a solution into the joint in order to purposely cause an inflammation. The normal response of the body is to produce additional collagen, the material which makes-up the joint in the human body. Because of the success of this treatment, it is considered a potential substitution to knee replacement surgeries.

Viscosupplementation Is another option in knee replacement alternatives. The purpose of this method of treatment is to reduce the amount of friction caused when the bones within the knee move during normal activity. There is a specific “acid” which is injected into the knee. This acid acts as a lubricant which reduces the amount of normal friction, therefore reducing the pain felt by the patient.

One of the most promising of all knee replacement alternatives is Stem cell injections. Unlike other methods of treatment, this alternative offers many positives. However, it doesn’t seem to carry any negatives. One of the biggest advantages to stem cell injections is the recovery time experienced by the patient. Amazingly, the majority of patients are able to experience recovery within twenty-four hours. Although it is sometimes necessary to require the patient to use a leg-brace for a few weeks, the majority of those receiving this treatment report little difficulty in movement. As to the risks involved in these alternatives, there really aren’t any. Because the stem cells used in the injection are taken from the patient’s body, the danger of infection when using this alternative is eliminated. There is absolutely no risk to the patient as there are in other procedures. This form of treatment seems to hold the most promise.

Knee replacement alternatives range from minimal-invasive surgery to stem cell injections. They may involve injections of drugs such as steroids, or may require using “microscopic” instruments in order to remove damage done to the area surrounding the patient’s knee. Not so long ago, the only option available to the patient was knee replacement along with significant recovery time. Unfortunately, there were no guarantees given to the patient concerning normal mobility after surgery. These knee replacement alternatives can not only eliminate surgery, but provide normality after.

FILED UNDER: KNEE REPLACEMENT ALTERNATIVES