Partial Knee Resurfacing

Arthritis is a condition that affects more than 40 million Americans (1), and continues to grow each year. If you’re reading this resource, you may be one of them. Your knee pain may be due to a variety of causes, but fortunately, there are many ways to treat it. This resource will summarize what you need to know about knee pain, review its causes and treatments you may be prescribed, emphasizing conservative treatments. We hope your knee pain can be alleviated and that your mobility can be restored so that you can do the things you want to do: walking without issue, gardening, playing with your grandchildren so that you can enjoy your life again. Being informed and educated is the first step back to a life without joint pain!

Knee Anatomy and Function

Did you know that the knee is the largest joint in the body, central to nearly every one of your activities? Here, we’ll go over its anatomy. The knee is a joint formed by the ends of three bones: the lower end of the thigh bone (called the femur), the upper end of the shin bone (or the tibia) and the kneecap (your patella). Ligaments are tough bands of fibrous tissue that connect these bones together, and then work to stabilize the knee joint. Meanwhile, the smooth elastic lining called the cartilage covers the ends of those bones and prevents them from rubbing against each other. The cartilage prevents your bones from causing friction, and also works as a shock absorber to cushion your bones. Finally, the synovium soft tissues also line the joint and produces lubrication to further reduce friction and wear and tear. Click the following text if you’d like to learn more about the anatomy of the knee.

What Causes My Joint Pain?

In a healthy knee, ideally all parts of the knee joint work together to move effortlessly, and do not cause pain. However, an injury or disease can interrupt its functions and cause:

• Pain

• Muscle weakness

• Limited movement

Osteoarthritis (OA)

One of the most common conditions that causes knee pain and loss of knee mobility is osteoarthritis. In osteoarthritis, the cartilage of your bones wears away, causing bones to rub together and leading to friction that causes significant pain and swelling. The condition’s cause can be due to age, but also due to trauma or direct injury. Without cartilage, the bones lose their source of shock absorption, resulting in stress to the bones that contributes to even more pain.

Osteoarthritis affects around 20 million people, making it the most common joint disorder in the United States. (1)

Treatment Options for Arthritis

After consulting your Fort Myers orthopedic specialist for an orthopedic evaluation, they will discuss your condition and your treatment options for arthritis of the knee. Treatment options may include:

• Medication

• Physical therapy

• Knee joint fluid supplements

• Arthroscopy

• Knee joint resurfacing

First you may be prescribed more conservative treatments like medication and physical therapy. However, if they do not provide sufficient pain relief, you may need to consider knee surgery. Not every surgery is a total knee replacement (TKR) – many types of knee implants are available. Your specialist will discuss your options with you.

Partial Knee Resurfacing (PKR)

The knee has three compartments: the medial (inside) compartment, the lateral (outside) compartment and the patellofemoral (kneecap) compartment. Partial knee resurfacing (PKR) surgery may be an option for you, depending on what areas your arthritis is harming on your knee. PKR is a growing procedure, and at least 70,000 PKRs are done a year in the United States (2).

Partial knee resurfacing is meant to assuage the pain in one of the compartments of your knee. In this surgery, only the damaged surface of your knee is replaced, and is meant to minimize the trauma done to healthy bone and tissue. Your orthopedic surgeon will remove only the damaged bone, and fit the implant to accommodate that bone. PKR artificial joints are smaller than total knee replacements, so the incisions made on your body may be smaller as well.

Most of the knee joint in PKR is relatively unaffected, and the basic structure of your knee is kept, so postoperative pain is lessened and the recovery period may take shorter than a full total knee replacement (3).

Triathlon® Partial Knee Resurfacing

The Joint Team offers Triathlon ® PKR as an implant. The implant serves a great fit to the knee and allows surgeons use the latest minimally invasive surgical techniques. To reiterate what happens in PKR, only the affected compartments in the arthritic thigh bone and shin bones are replaced with these artificial implants.

Stryker Corporation or its divisions or other corporate affiliated entities own, use or have applied for the following trademarks or service marks: Stryker, Triathlon and X3. All other trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners or holders.

References:

1. National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases Website, November 2005. 
2. 2008 Projection, Millennium Research Group, 2005. 
3. Newman, John H., Unicompartmental Knee Replacement, The Knee, 7 (2000), pp. 63-70.
4. Stryker Orthopaedics Test Report: 06-013.

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