Are you experiencing pain in your knees? You’re not alone. It is estimated that over 100,000 knee replacement surgeries are carried out each year in the U.K. alone, making it one of the most common types of surgeries in the country. Knee pain affects people of all ages, but it is most often linked to obesity, osteoarthritis, injuries and practicing certain sports that heavily impact the knees, such as skiing, playing basketball and jogging.
Knee pain is often caused by the loss of cartilage
Our knees are weight-bearing joints, meaning they carry the majority of the mass of our bodies. Throughout our lifetime, cartilage, tissue, ligaments and bone gradually wear down. Problems often first arise when loss of cartilage occurs, as this functions as a cushion between the bones. With only a narrow space left between those bones, they tend to rub against one another, resulting in long lasting knee pain.
What causes the need for a knee replacement?
Treatment for knee pain generally consists of prescribed medicine, physiotherapy as well as surgery, depending on the cause of the pain. However, in some cases, the pain in the knee can be so severe and consistent that knee replacement surgery is the only option left. This may be the case when your knee is damaged or worn to the extent that your mobility has been severely reduced and you experience pain even when in a resting state. It is also not uncommon for a patient to require a knee replacement for another reason apart from arthritis, such as unusual bone growth due to a disorder, a long lasting knee injury, a deformity, or death of bone due to blood supply issues.
More and more Brits are having a knee replacement done abroad
A doctor will first do extensive tests to see whether knee replacement is truly necessary. Usually, this consists of not only a physical examination, but also scans and laboratory tests. Your doctor may then recommend several types of surgeries if your pain is not or cannot be relieved with nonsurgical treatment. There are different types of surgeries available depending on the cause of your knee pain, one of which is a total or partial knee replacement, also known as arthroplasty.
Has your doctor recommended you to have a knee replacement? In that case, you may want to look beyond surgeons in just the U.K., as the waiting lists at the NHS are long and the cost of having a knee replacement done with a private clinic within the United Kingdom may cost you anywhere between £10.000 and £15.000. Across the sea, however, the costs of these surgeries are much lower, starting from between £6.000 (Turkey) to around £7,000 (The Netherlands). With the results of the surgery being just the same – a new prosthetic knee that provides painless mobility – it is not hard to understand why Brits are massively opting to have this surgery done abroad instead. Definitely do consider this option, as it can save you a lot of money and provide you the same results, if not better.
