Surgical options – are they worth it?

SURGERY may ultimately be necessary if the damage to your joint is severe enough to cause difficulties in your everyday life and other treatments are not controlling the pain. Here are the pros and cons of the two most common procedures…

■■Keyhole surgery: Simple, not a cure-all More than 150,000 Britons undergo arthroscopic keyhole surgery to their knees every year, mainly due to osteoarthritis, but a review in the British Medical Journal this year found it had been “oversold as a cure-all for knee pain”.

Professor Mark Wilkinson, for Arthritis Research UK, said: “Previous studies have shown knee arthroscopy isn’t recommended for the symptoms of pain and loss of function for people with degenerative knee arthritis.”

■■Joint replacements: effective but recovery can be slow These are now very common, successful operations, with hip and knee replacement the most performed.

The procedure involves removing a damaged joint and putting in an artificial one made from metal, plastic or ceramic materials to help it move painlessly again.

Artificial joint surgery can take from six months to two years to completely heal, and carries the normal blood clot and infection risks that go with all surgery. You’ll also need physiotherapy and a gentle exercise programme to strengthen your muscles.

■■A future alternative to surgery? Researchers from New York University have identified a molecule that maintains cartilage and could halt the onset of arthritis. This discovery is considered a key step towards finding a cure.