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By Mayo Clinic staff
During knee replacement surgery
On the day of surgery, your doctor attaches several monitors to your body to help make sure that your heart rate, blood pressure and blood-oxygen levels stay at safe levels throughout the procedure. These monitors may include a blood pressure cuff on your arm and heart-monitor leads stuck to your chest.
During the procedure, your knee is in a bent position so that all surfaces of the joint are fully exposed. After making an incision between 6 and 12 inches (15 and 30 centimeters) in length, your surgeon moves aside your kneecap and cuts away the damaged joint surfaces. Your surgeon takes measurements to ensure a good fit for your new prosthesis and smoothes your bones' rough edges.
The surgeon then inserts the prosthesis. Before closing the incision, he or she bends and rotates your knee, testing and balancing it to ensure that it functions properly. Expect knee replacement surgery to last about two hours.
Some people choose to have both knees replaced at the same time. Whether this improves the outcome of surgery or whether surgery on both knees is more risky is controversial among surgeons. Discuss your concerns with your surgeon.
After knee replacement surgery
After surgery, you're wheeled to a recovery room for one to two hours. You're then moved to your hospital room, where you typically stay for several days before going home. You may feel some pain, but nerve blocks and medications prescribed by your doctor will help control it.
During the hospital stay, you're encouraged to move your foot and ankle, which increases blood flow to your leg muscles and helps prevent swelling and blood clots. You may need to receive blood thinners and wear support hose or compression boots to further protect against swelling and clotting.
The day after surgery, a physical therapist shows you how to exercise your new knee. To help regain movement, you may use a device called a continuous passive motion machine, which slowly moves your knee while you're in bed.
During the first few weeks after surgery, you're more likely to experience a good recovery if you follow all of your surgeon's instructions concerning wound care, diet and exercise. Your physical activity program needs to include:
- A graduated walking program — first indoors, then outdoors — to gradually increase your mobility
- Slowly resuming other normal household activities, including walking up and down stairs
- Knee-strengthening exercises you learned from the hospital physical therapist, performed several times a day
