Joint Replacement
Joint Replacement Surgery for Better Mobility
The orthopedic surgeons at Core Physicians understand your desire to be physically active at any age. When it comes to hip, knee and shoulder replacement, our dedicated team of experts is here to help you return to the activities you enjoy the most.
Our joint replacement specialists offer experience and expertise in:
- Anterior hip replacements
- Custom-fit knee replacements
- Partial knee replacements
- Computer assisted surgery
- Rapid Recovery pain management program
- Long term follow-up to keep you on track
- Comprehensive pre-operative education
- Total shoulder joint replacement
- Reverse shoulder joint replacement
Rapid Recovery for Total Joint Replacement
Knee, hip and shoulder replacement is no longer just for aging adults. Many active adults and athletes are diagnosed with hip, knee and shoulder conditions requiring total joint replacement surgery. In an effort to lessen the pain associated with surgery and help patients resume their normal activities sooner, Dr. Thomas McGovern and other physicians at Core Physicians have recently begun treating their patients with a new pain management program called Rapid Recovery. This new therapy helps patients to recuperate from surgery faster and with less discomfort.
The Rapid Recovery program uses a combination of medicines before, during and after surgery to minimize pain and maximize a patient’s ability to resume movement. Joint replacement patients treated with the Rapid Recovery program have experienced less pain, decreased nausea and have been able to begin rehabilitation sooner.
Rapid Recovery Program Stages
- Stage One: Begins before the operation. Prior to entering the operating room, the patient receives medications that treat different pain pathways. Medications are given before surgery so they are already working when the patient awakens in the recovery room.
- Stage Two: Takes place at the time of surgery. During the operation, the patient receives a long acting local anesthetic and an anti-inflammatory medication into tissues surrounding the hip or knee. Once again, this treatment is working by the time the patient is in the recovery room.
- Stage Three: Following surgery, patients receive medications that target different pain pathways and minimize the use of narcotics. Treatment begins immediately after surgery and continues throughout the hospital stay.
Rapid Recovery Program Benefits
The overall benefits of total joint surgery with the Rapid Recovery Program include:
- “Next Generation” advanced pain management
- Ability to be up and moving sooner combined with progressive rehabilitation
- Comprehensive preoperative education program
- Potential for discharge on post-operative day two or three
- Potential for discharge to home from the hospital
- Rapid Recovery coaching program
- Orthopedic nurse coordinator for program guidance
- Long term follow-up
Request an Appointment
To help determine if joint replacement surgery is right for you, please call us at 603-777-1000.
More About Joint Replacements
Anterior hip replacement is a minimally invasive technique that has replaced the traditional posterior hip replacement procedure. The difference with the anterior approach is how the surgeon opens the body to reach the hip joint.
“Anterior” refers to the front. In this surgery, only one small incision is made on the front of the hip to perform the replacement. This allows the surgeon to simply separate the muscles, rather than cutting and reattaching them to access the joint. Less trauma to the muscle tissue means a faster recovery, less weakness and no restrictions on activity.
Our orthopedic hip surgeons specialize in minimally invasive anterior hip replacement surgery. We use the state-of-the-art hana table to ideally position patients for anterior hip replacement.
Thomas McGovern, MD, a joint replacement specialist at Core Physicians, uses MAKO robotic technology to perform partial and full knee replacements. The MAKO technology allows for more precise and custom treatment of the joint.
For a partial joint replacement, as with a full knee replacement, Dr. McGovern starts with a 3D CT scan to map out the joint to ensure a custom fit. Using the robotic arm for the surgery allows Dr. McGovern to be much more precise and does not allow the surgeon to go “outside the lines” of the mapped-out boundaries of the part to be replaced. Dr. McGovern has performed thousands of joint replacements in his career as an orthopedic surgeon.
How Long Will My New Knee Replacement Last
Research has shown that the longevity of a knee replacement depends on how precise it is placed during surgery. Even a slight misalignment can result in uneven wear, instability and the increased risk of a future corrective knee replacement surgery.
Individuals who have had knee replacement surgeries in the past decade can typically expect the new joint to last 10 to 15 years. The Custom-Fit technology is expected to last much longer, although due to its newness there is no long-term data available yet. This is good news as people are getting knee replacements at younger ages and maintaining an active lifestyle later in life. These people are generally healthy going into the surgery and are able to recover faster following knee replacement surgery.
The new technology is one of several advances in recent years in knee replacement surgery, including computer assisted surgery. The Custom-Fit technology is only available for knee replacements at this time, although there is potential for hip replacements in the future.
Shoulder joint replacement surgery is a safe and effective way to relieve shoulder pain to help you resume everyday activities.
Total shoulder replacement involves replacing the joint ball and the socket with an implant (prosthesis). Implants contain a ball with a stem that extends down inside the upper arm bone (humerus) and a socket that is placed over the surface of the glenoid. Replacement of both the humeral head and the socket is called a total shoulder replacement.
Reverse Joint Replacement
Another type of shoulder replacement is called reverse total shoulder replacement. Reverse total shoulder replacement is used for people who have:
- Completely torn rotator cuffs with severe arm weakness
- The effects of severe arthritis and rotator cuff tearing (cuff tear arthropathy)
- Had a previous shoulder replacement that failed
For these individuals, a conventional total shoulder replacement can still leave them with pain. They may also be unable to lift their arm up past a 90-degree angle.
In reverse total shoulder replacement, the socket and metal ball are switched. That means the metal ball is attached to the shoulder bone and the plastic socket is attached to the upper arm bone. This allows the patient to use the deltoid muscle instead of the torn rotator cuff to lift the arm.
