Understanding why you should forego knee surgery is both about knowing what makes it unappealing and awareness of other options for knee pain treatment in Orlando.
Why Should You Avoid Knee Surgery
You may already have your own reasons for wanting to avoid surgery for your knee pain, such as the long recovery time (vs. nonsurgical treatment) and concern about the risk of complications. Researchers have pointed to two other key reasons to avoid knee surgery:
- May not be cost-effective – Surgery is expensive, so researchers have sometimes looked at the quality of life obtained from it in an economic light. Total knee replacement is not cost-effective, according to a 2017 study conducted at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine and published in the British Medical Journal. The researchers analyzed records from 4,498 patients in the United States who had been diagnosed with osteoarthritis or were high-risk for it. The lead author, Bart Ferket, MD, noted that when total knee replacement surgeries were conducted, quality of life was not bolstered as much as previous research had suggested. Dr. Ferket said that conducting these surgeries could not be justified from a cost perspective, except in cases of severe disability.
- May not be any more effective than a sham – While an arthroscopic partial meniscectomy is performed in response to a particular condition, a meniscal tear, its lack of effectiveness should raise eyebrows when it comes to knee surgery. In one study on this procedure, researchers divided patients into two groups to receive a real surgery and a sham surgery. There was no significant difference in either quality of life or knee pain relief experienced by the two groups.
Other Options: Non-Surgical Knee Treatment
Deciding against surgery for knee pain is easier when you know there are alternatives that are more compelling, especially when used in conjunction:
- Lifestyle changes – A key consideration when you want to non-surgically treat your knees is the amount of weight they are bearing. Your knees must sometimes sustain huge amounts of force; for instance, when walking on level ground, the force on the knees can be as high as 3.4 times your body weight. Help your joints by losing weight through a healthy diet and regular exercise.
- Visco-Supplementation – When you seek a non-surgical knee treatment, it must be effective. Through all-natural injections, you can reduce pain, mitigate inflammation, strengthen the joint, relubricate it, realign it, and improve healing. However, this treatment works best as part of a multidisciplinary plan.
Knee pain treatment in Orlando
Do you need knee pain relief? At Viscogen, our KneeVisc 5® program is a combination of non-surgical treatments that provide a level of pain reduction and increased mobility far beyond what any one treatment could provide on its own.
