Second Thoughts About Knee Replacement

Think it’s time for a knee replacement? Courtney Humphries, a health and science writer for the Boston Globe, suggests that you think again. Why? Because knee replacements are expensive, painful, and can make things worse, not better. Also, she quotes one orthopedic surgeon saying, knee replacements are a one-way door, once intended as a last resort. These days, however, they are often seen as a first resort. Humphries points to a recent study by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality that found that knee replacement surgeries in middle-aged women and men increased 2.5 times from 1997 to 2009, and to a study in the September 26 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association that found that total knee replacements in Medicare patients had risen by 162 percent in the past 20 years. What’s a better way? In many cases, says Humphries, the reason our knees go bad is the excessive weight that people carry around. Losing that weight can also lose the need for a new knee–inexpensively and painlessly. Read more in the Boston Globe.