Dr.Rex's Speech

The re-designing of prosthetic knee joint by a U.S.-based manufacturer will now help provide people full movement of their knees after a surgery to cure them of arthritis.Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at Rex Ortho Hospital here C. Rex explained to presspersons on Wednesday that the normal knee bent backwards up to 155 degrees. When worn out knee joints were replaced with those made of cobalt chrome alloy in a more rigid design, the knee bent only up to 110 degrees.

“The material used is the same. But, a design change helps provide normal bending,” he said. Besides, the technology used was also different from what was now seen as a conventional method of knee replacement. The new method used a re-surfacing method. The arthritis-affected ends of the shin bone and the thigh bone undergo re-surfacing to hold the artificial joint.

Dr. Rex said the re-surfacing method tried to conserve as much bone as possible in the affected area. The bone loss was only 30 per cent of what was taken away by the earlier method.“The new design suits sitting postures of Indians and some sections of Asians,” the surgeon said.For instance, the more rigid prosthesis did not allow people to sit cross-legged on the floor or use Indian toilets. “People sit on the floor when they worship. The new prosthesis allows this,” he said.

Another advantage of the new knee joint was that it came in nine sizes and with different ones for men and women. The case of 68-year-old Sivagami was presented at the press meet to highlight the benefits of the new design, “She has been a very independent person, doing all the household work herself.Now will begin normal activities soon because of the new knee joint offering more movement,” he said.Dr. Rex pointed out that active persons like Ms. Sivagami or sportspersons felt miserable when their movements were severely restricted by arthritis.

Sportspersons got arthritis at an early age of 35 or 40 because of the heavy wear and tear caused while playing. This was because the physiological load on the knees was much above the normal amount.The problem also inflicted a lot of pain.“People lose sleep because of pain shooting through the affected legs when they move these,” he said. When operated upon and rehabilitated, people wanted to get back to being very active. The new method provided for this, Dr. Rex said.

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