Joint Replacement Surgery Overview
Joint replacement is the most involved step in this guide, so it makes sense to start by naming it. Cleveland Clinic explains that arthroplasty is a surgical procedure to replace some or all of a joint, and that healthcare providers also call it joint replacement surgery or joint replacement.
The articles below cover four situations that sit around that definition. A reader in Hawthorne can use them to see which step a given joint is closest to. Cleveland Clinic's page on hip resurfacing is one reference for the hip.
Replacement articles in reading order
- Hip Replacement for Worn Hip Joints covers the hip replacement step.
- Hip Resurfacing as a Bone Saving Option covers a related hip procedure.
- Toe Joint Replacement for Big Toe Arthritis moves the same idea to the big toe.
- Hip Revision Surgery for a Worn Implant deals with a hip that has already been replaced once.
For the toe, Cleveland Clinic has a page on toe joint replacement covering procedure details and recovery.
Reading the conditions behind the surgery
A plain overview of osteoarthritis is a companion to the articles above because it describes a condition rather than an operation.
The next rung to read
Read the article closest to your joint and note the question it ends on. If your joint has already been replaced, Cleveland Clinic's guide to preparing for hip revision surgery is the next reference to open. Before an appointment, list the joint, your history with it and the steps you have already tried.