Am I a Good Candidate for a Knee Replacement Alternative?

If you’ve been dealing with knee pain due to osteoarthritis for several years, and you’ve been through all the treatments — steroid injections, anti-inflammatory medications, physical therapy, and more — your doctor may be telling you it’s time for knee replacement surgery.

Hold the phone.

Before you undergo this major surgery, you should check into knee replacement alternatives. Dr. Austin Yeargan and the team at Carolina Joint and Arthritis have developed an effective alternative treatment that may be able to prevent or delay your knee replacement.

Why do you need knee replacement?

If you have osteoarthritis of the knee, the cartilage in your knee has broken down, allowing the bones in your knee joint to rub together. This friction between the bones causes pain, stiffness, and swelling in your knee. This is a common condition — it affects about 46% of people at some point during their life.

Initial treatments include pain medications, steroid (cortisone) injections, physical therapy, a knee brace, orthotics, and more. In some cases, these treatments won’t be enough as the arthritis continues to advance, and there is no cure for the condition.

In cases like this, where the symptoms are affecting your quality of life, knee replacement is an effective treatment, but it does involve major surgery and recovery.

What’s an alternative treatment?

If you’ve been told you’re ready for a total knee replacement, you may benefit from learning more about alternative treatments first. Dr. Yeargan has developed a treatment called Nanoplasty® and Mechanical Axis Deviation Procedure (NAMAD), which treats knee osteoarthritis by actually restoring the damaged cartilage.

With this treatment, Dr. Yeargan extracts healing cells from your bone marrow and injects them around the damaged cartilage in your knee. This jumpstarts your body’s natural healing processes as the cells begin to regenerate new cartilage and bone.

As the cartilage is repaired, you’ll experience less pain and an increased range of joint movement, allowing you better mobility in your everyday life. 

If the damage to your knee is too severe, this procedure may not work well for you. The best way to determine if you’re a good candidate is to talk to Dr. Yeargan. He’ll give you a straightforward evaluation — if your diagnostic images show that the procedure can help, you may be able to delay knee replacement for as long as five years. 

If you’re ready to seek a second opinion on your potential knee replacement, contact Carolina Joint and Arthritis in Wilmington, North Carolina, today. Just call our office or book an appointment online with our convenient scheduler, and we may be able to delay your surgery!