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Surgical Therapy Q & A

ankle replacement

In ’93 I shattered my ankle and had a plate and 7 screws put in, then in ’03 I had 4 spurs and 2 bone chips removed. The ankle never went back to normal size, after the first surgery. After the second surgery the dr. told me that it was bone on bone, and now I am having problems with my knee and the pain can be made barely tolerable.I am asumming that the problem with the knee is due to not being able to walk correctly because of the ankle. Has there been any impovements on the replacements in the last few years? If you have one repacement done about what is the life of it and can another been done in later years? I am a machinst and work on my feet on concret all day. Will this shorten the life of the ankle? And what is the recovery time before I can return to work?

Surgery or not?

I have Osteoarthritis in one of my knees. The area around the knee is swollen. I am constantly in pain. I am on painkillers every day. The X-ray shows “bone on bone” rubbing. Do I need knee replacement or are there injections available to rebuilt the Cartilage?

surgery, dentist

I recently had screws put in my ankle and went for my dental cleaning and the dentist said because of the surgery I had, I would have to take antibiotics 1hr before my appointment, and I wasn’t able to see him that day. When I talked to my surgeon about this, he said I did not need antibiotics. Why would I need them in the first place? What are the risks of getting my teeth cleaned 2 months post-op?

partical knee replacement

I had 3 torn muscles in my right knee. Had micro surgury to have them repaired. Got a bad case of inflamed arthritis after surgury and then never got better after that. Developed a Bakers cyst that bulges our the back of the knee. Have had it drained 4 times, to no avail. Dr says that I have bad damage for knee bones rubbing together and is concidering partial knee replacement because I am only 48 and too young for total knee. Is this surgury helpful and will it give me some relief?