Your knees are one of the most hard-working joints in your body so when you start to experience knee pain it can be totally debilitating. Osteoarthritis of the knee occurs when the protective cartilage in your knee joints wears down allowing your bones to rub together and start to wear away. This causes pain, swelling and a loss of mobility.
Overweight and pregnancy adds to knee pain in later life
Being overweight puts extra pressure on knee joints. According to Arthritis.org, every pound of extra weight exerts around four pounds of extra pressure on the knee joints.
The more weight that is exerted on the joint the more stressed it becomes and the more susceptible to damage. The condition is more common in women than in men, in part due to the different alignment of their bodies and the stresses placed on the body by pregnancy and birth.
Injury to the knees also makes you more likely to develop osteoarthritis of the knee in later life.
MAKO robotic arm assisted knee replacement surgery
Knee replacement surgery is a commonly performed procedure to relieve the pain of osteoarthritis.
Precision MAKO robotic technology is helping to make knee replacements more successful than ever before, with fewer complications.
How it works
MAKO robotic arm technology uses CT scans to create a 3D model of your knee.
This is then used to design a unique personalised surgical plan, optimised for your natural knee jointand allows best fit of standardised knee implants foryour anatomy.
The surgeon uses the system to create a pre-operative plan, mapping out the ideal position and orientation of the implant before you reach the operating table. During surgery he can make fine adjustments to the plan but cannot move outside the planned limits.
The MAKO robotic arm assists with this. It has a burr at edge of the arm that ensures it will only cut where it is supposed to. If it reaches the boundary it will stop.
The robotic arm moves with fluidity and control, enabling the surgeon to see a real-time feed in three different dimensions on a screen in front of him.
Osteoarthritis can affect either one, two or all three compartments of the knee. The precise nature of MAKO technology allows the surgeon to target only those parts of the knee that are affected by the disease, replacing damaged bone and re-tensioning ligaments while leaving the healthy areas untouched.
Preserving as much healthy bone and tissue as possible ensures a more rapid recovery and is an important benefit if revision surgery is ever needed.
How does it compare?
In conventional knee replacement surgery, the surgeon may haveto compromise on the size and fit of the implant, whenchoosing one that most closely matches your natural knee joint, at the time of your surgery.
However, if an implant does not fit perfectly it can lead to on-going pain and mobility issues.
In some cases, people may need revision surgery to replace an implant that has become loose or dislocated, that is infected or that has developed problems.
Because MAKO knee replacement uses a model of your actual knee joint to create a precision surgical plan, you are more likely to experience long-term relief from pain and mobility problems.
After surgery, you will be set individual personalised goals to help get you back on your feet. You will be closely monitored to ensure your implant is integrating well and you are making a complete recovery.
