Signs and symptoms you should look after
You probably don’t have the medical experience to know precisely if you are a candidate for knee replacement surgery. But you don’t need to go through extensive medical training to suspect you need surgery. Just consider these signs and symptoms and talk about them with your doctor:
- Severe knee pain: We all have different pain thresholds. It means that two people experiencing the same pain may feel a higher or lower intensity depending on their central nervous system and other variables. However, you are more likely to need this surgery if your knee pain is so intense that it limits your daily activities. This type of pain is not relieved with conservative measures.
- Knee pain is moderate or severe when you are resting: In many cases, patients who need knee replacement surgery refer to moderate or severe pain at night or when they are resting. The articulation becomes even more stiff and hurts even if they don’t move around.
- Swelling and inflammation that does not improve: Your knee increases its size or looks reddened and swollen. This inflammation does not get better with oral medication, rest, ice, and other measures. Your doctor has probably tried many conservative measures, and your condition is still not improving.
- Your leg is bowing in or out: This is a sign of deformation in the articulation. The leg doesn’t look straight anymore. It is bowing in or out instead, making a curve. You might even lose balance sometimes as this curve becomes more pronounced.
- Treatment failure: We have repeatedly mentioned this throughout the article because it is perhaps one of the most important things you need to consider. If you still feel moderate or severe symptoms of pain and stiffness after treating your knee with several options.
If you have a doubt or suspect that you need knee replacement surgery, be sure to talk to your doctor about it. We all have different pain thresholds, and it is possible to misinterpret these signs and symptoms. A skilled doctor will go through additional tests to know objectively if you are a candidate or not.
