My mother had both knees replaced and one hip, not all at the same time. She is 76 now, bowls on friday morning, square dances 2-3 times a week.
My sister had both knees replaced at the same time.
My brother had one knee replaced.
Each were sent home with an exercise machine that would slowly bend and stretch the knee while laying on the couch. It helps increase the range of motion. No regrets by any of them.
My right knee has been bothering me a lot lately. If I can wait one more year then I will be older than either my brother or sister when they had theirs done. Sibling competitions never end.
James
Interesting thread. My left knee is shot and will eventually get replaced, but the Doc wants to prolong it for a while so I just got my second series of gel shots, which haven’t worked that well. Like the others who commented above, I know 3 or 4 folks who have gotten knee replacements and have loved the results – able to ski, run, hike, work without pain, et cetera.
However, my doc said that the success rate of knee replacements is around 85 to 90%, as opposed to hips which he said have a success rate of around 98%. I know of one of the knee replacement failures – a guy who had his redone 3 times in a year and it’s still not right and so much damage has been done to the bone and tissue that they don’t dare do anymore work on it. I’m not sure if it’s because he’s a long drink of water (6’7”) or because the surgeons did such bad work (operation #3 was done by someone different from #1 and #2).
