There are many different parts to the knee, 2 bones, tibia and femur, 2 groups of muscles, quadriceps, which straightens the leg and the hamstrings which flex the knee. The knee cap, or the patella, which is the largest sesamoid bone in the body, synovial membranes, joints, cartilage, tendons, 4 ligaments, the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), posterior cruciate ligament (PCL), medial cruciate ligament (MCL) and the lateral cruciate ligament (LCL). There are also sac like pouches called menisci which are like Dr. Scholls for the knee. Over time the joints and cartilage in the knee will start to wear down due to osteoarthritis (hopkinsmedicine.org, nd).
While the break down is occurring of the cartilage and joints, the femur and tibia will …show more content…
For surgery with a partial knee replacement, the doctor will use a saw to cut away at the cartilage that is on the side with the osteoarthritis and cover the ends up the tibia and fibula with metal caps. In between the caps the doctor inserts a plastic piece to ensure for smooth gliding movement in the knee (orthoinfo.aaos.org, 2010).
For a doctor to give a patient a complete knee replacement, the degeneration will have affected all the components of the knee and not just the medial component. With a full knee replacement, the femur, tibia and patella will all have replacements placed on them. With the femur, surgeons will shave the bottom and drill into the bone, the same will happen to the tibia. The patella, on the other hand, is almost completely cut in half. When all three bones are shaved down, the doctors will use “practice” replacements to make sure that the real replacements will fit in perfectly. Once the pieces are fit correctly, the doctors will apply the cement and the pieces are set into place on the femur, tibia and patella. These pieces are referred to as the prosthesis (medicinenet.com, …show more content…
The benefits for having the partial knee is to having slim to none damage to the 4 ligaments, patients have said that the knee replacement feels almost like a real knee, and there is also a shorter recovery time. Patients will have less soft tissue damage and also will have more range of motion versus having the complete replacement (orthoinfo.aaos.org, 2010).
The main goals for this procedure is to resurface the knee joint that has damage and to also most importantly relieve the pain for the patient that cannot otherwise be treated with any other forms of treatment. Some other treatments to treat this degenerative disease is to give the patient anti- inflammatory medication, pain medicine can be administered, cortisone shots, viscosupplementation injections for lubrication and for obese patients weight loss could resolve the problem (hopkinsmedicine.org,
While the break down is occurring of the cartilage and joints, the femur and tibia will …show more content…
For surgery with a partial knee replacement, the doctor will use a saw to cut away at the cartilage that is on the side with the osteoarthritis and cover the ends up the tibia and fibula with metal caps. In between the caps the doctor inserts a plastic piece to ensure for smooth gliding movement in the knee (orthoinfo.aaos.org, 2010).
For a doctor to give a patient a complete knee replacement, the degeneration will have affected all the components of the knee and not just the medial component. With a full knee replacement, the femur, tibia and patella will all have replacements placed on them. With the femur, surgeons will shave the bottom and drill into the bone, the same will happen to the tibia. The patella, on the other hand, is almost completely cut in half. When all three bones are shaved down, the doctors will use “practice” replacements to make sure that the real replacements will fit in perfectly. Once the pieces are fit correctly, the doctors will apply the cement and the pieces are set into place on the femur, tibia and patella. These pieces are referred to as the prosthesis (medicinenet.com, …show more content…
The benefits for having the partial knee is to having slim to none damage to the 4 ligaments, patients have said that the knee replacement feels almost like a real knee, and there is also a shorter recovery time. Patients will have less soft tissue damage and also will have more range of motion versus having the complete replacement (orthoinfo.aaos.org, 2010).
The main goals for this procedure is to resurface the knee joint that has damage and to also most importantly relieve the pain for the patient that cannot otherwise be treated with any other forms of treatment. Some other treatments to treat this degenerative disease is to give the patient anti- inflammatory medication, pain medicine can be administered, cortisone shots, viscosupplementation injections for lubrication and for obese patients weight loss could resolve the problem (hopkinsmedicine.org,