It is very essential that the patient follows a proper rehabilitation program and monitor the soft tissue healing and the joint movement and function after the joint replacement surgery to avoid any medium to long-term complications. This will be taken care of with our rehabilitation and physiotherapist team, who assess the patient's function, activities of daily living, and any support required during his postoperative period.

Joint replacements nowadays are straightforward procedures due to the advanced technique, advanced manufacturing, and biomaterials used to manufacture these joints. There is still a risk of complications which lies in the region of 2-3% including infection, thrombosis, loosening of the joint, or joint instability. Major complications also can happen but it is very rare with the advanced surgical technique available nowadays.

Before considering joint replacement we carry out a full clinical assessment and assess the need for the surgical procedure on functional measures and then we follow that with a certain investigation, including X-Rays, CT scans if needed,  an MRI scan, or sometimes an Arthroscopy of the joint to see if we can achieve some improvement to the joint before considering the final stage which is the joint replacement.

Some other methods of conservative treatment including non-steroidal anti-inflammatory, joint injections with steroid hyaluronic acid or PRP also can be tried on many occasions trying to delay the joint replacement procedure.

The main indication for any joint replacement whether it is knee, shoulder, elbow, wrist, or any other joint is the pain that interferes significantly with activities of daily living. The function and detailed function are other indications when it comes to deciding about joint replacement.

We do our best with conservative treatment and surgical procedures before considering joint replacement trying to achieve our goal of pain control and better function but when all methods fail to achieve satisfactory results, we have to consider joint replacement as the ultimate option for our patient.

People are sometimes concerned about the materials used for manufacturing the new joints, but these are made from biocompatible materials including certain alloys and polyethylene which does not usually react with the body and do not cause any side effect. This was tested in the long run with no significant side effects.