It’s normal for obese patients, with damaged knee joints, to be encouraged to lose weight. And likely enough, if they do, some notable improvement in function and feeling is likely to transpire. Yet, what if weight loss is not in the cards? We all know that not everyone can achieve what would be considered to be an optimal weight. Should a knee replacement be an option for an obese patient? According to a recent study, yes. The study followed different groups, with different body mass indexes, who had knee replacements. Almost 700 individuals were divided up into groupings, chosen because of specific BMI levels. All individuals had surgeries in the same facility and were followed up for the same number of years. While specific numerical results were different from group to group, every group did achieve notable improvement in function and pain level. Therefore the findings would indicate that damaged knee sufferers should not be barred from surgery, due to obesity. Certainly physicians must take all data into the decision-making process. But, obesity alone is not a cause to prevent a patient from availing himself of life-quality changing knee-replacement surgery.
Key Points:
- 1The study looked at knee replacement outcomes, after 5 years of follow up, among 689 patients who were divided into those whose BMIs were <30, 30-35, or >35.
- 2While absolute outcomes were better among those with lower BMIs, the degree of improvement in quality of life and knee functionality was not different between groups.
- 3Over the years I’ve seen many patients in my office who were there because they were denied the opportunity to have a knee replacement until such time that they lost a particular amount of weight.
Over the years I’ve seen many patients in my office who were there because they were denied the opportunity to have a knee replacement until such time that they lost a particular amount of weight.
Read the full article at: https://www.weightymatters.ca/2017/01/knee-replacement-surgeries-should-not.html
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