Types of knee implants: choose the best for yourself

Knee pain is a degenerative and chronic ailment, particularly among the elderly. In India alone, over 1.2 lakh people undergo knee implants procedures every year.

Osteoarthritis is the dominant cause for knee pain around the world. In chronic cases, the most efficient treatment of diseased knee joints is a knee replacement surgery.

Knee replacement surgery is a medical procedure for cutting out damaged portions of the bone or cartilage and replacing it with knee implants. There different types of knee replacement implants in the market.

Your surgeon will help you decide on the best knee replacement implant for you based on the condition of your knee and the degree of pain you are in. The primary objective of a knee replacement surgery is to substitute the knee joint with a prosthesis or an artificial joint.

When are knee implants required?

If you are experiencing a constant unbearable pain in your knee joint or if the functions of your knee become restricted, it is time for a knee replacement surgery.

There are various reasons for a bad knee. Hereditary ailments such as arthritis or rheumatoid arthritis are degenerative. The condition of the knee joint deteriorates with age owing to wear and tear. Such ailments will further affect the knee joints.

Sometimes trauma can also lead to unbearable pain in the knee joints. This could be because of an existing injury to the knee. At times, obesity also affects the knee joint as pressure increases from the body weight.

Knee implants are a necessity for you if your knee pain is unmanageable or if your mobility becomes restricted as the health of your bones decline.

Types of knee replacement implants

Irrespective of these categories, all knee implants have two components: one that attaches to the thigh bone and the other that attaches to the lower leg bones.

However, based on the purpose of the knee implants, they can be broadly categorised into total knee replacement and partial knee replacement. Before diving into the difference between the two, here’s a brief look at the anatomy of a knee joint—

A knee joint has three compartments—medial compartment, which is the inside section of the knee, lateral compartment or the outer section and patellofemoral compartment that is in the front and lies between the knee cap and the thighbone).

A total knee replacement surgery involves entails the substitution of all three compartments mentioned earlier. A partial knee replacement surgery, on the other hand, involves the substitution or any one or two of these compartments.

Meril has developed a range of total knee replacement implants such as Destiknee, Opulent and Freedom. These knee implants are at par with the best knee replacement implants available in the market and are specially designed to cater to the needs of patients around the world.

Conclusion

Arthritis is the leading cause of knee pain the world over. There are over 3 crore people in India suffering from this ailment, who are seeking knee replacement implant surgeries.

However, many patients are yet to fully comprehend the importance of knee implants and attribute their distress to old age. Knee implants can significantly alleviate knee pain and increase mobility of the knee joint. Recently, the government placed price caps on knee implants so people can available of knee replacement surgeries at low costs. 

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