Knee Replacement Surgery
in San Antonio

Knee Surgery Tailored for You

It’s easy to take our knees for granted until it becomes too painful to perform simple, everyday activities like climbing stairs, getting in the bathtub, or even just walking across a room. When your basic mobility becomes compromised, schedule an appointment with San Antonio Orthopædic Specialists. When you come in for an appointment, our physicians will determine what kind of treatment you will need. Whether it’s knee arthroplasty or injections, we’ll tailor your knee ​treatment to fit your needs.

You may have considered knee replacement surgery, but you could be putting it off because you don’t want to deal with a long recovery period. If this is your concern, you’re not alone. That’s why our expert physicians have spent years perfecting their tissue-sparing procedures to limit knee replacement recovery times. The physicians use customized instruments allowing them to perform surgery with less trauma to the tissues and therefore minimizing recovery times. The custom instruments are designed to go underneath the muscle instead of cutting it. All knee replacements done with us are walking the same day and most only stay in the hospital for a short observation period of 1-2 nights. Traditional techniques led to a 3-day hospital stay with many going to a rehab facility for several weeks afterward.

What is a Knee Replacement?

A knee replacement is a surgical procedure where the diseased bones in the knee are replaced with a prosthesis. Typically a knee replacement is a solution to reduce pain from one of three types of arthritis - osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and post-traumatic arthritis. 

Osteoarthritis typically affects patients over 50 whose joints have worn down with age. The cartilage protecting the bones begins to wear away, causing the bones to run against one another. 

Rheumatoid arthritis is the most common of the three types of arthritis and is a result of inflammation. 

Post-traumatic arthritis results from fractures of the bones from a severe knee injury where ligaments and cartilage become damaged over time. Below are four grades that classify the extent of the injury: 

• Grade I - Early changes show fissuring (breaks) in the cartilage

• Grade II - More extensive full-thickness breaks in the cartilage

• Grade III - Intermittent loss of cartilage with breaks

• Grade IV - Exposed subchondral (below the cartilage) bone

Types of Knee Replacement Surgery

• Total Knee Replacement

• Partial Knee Replacement

• Robotic-Assisted Knee Replacement

• Patient-Specific Knee Replacement

• Knee Joint Preservation Surgery

• Complex Revision Knee Surgeries

• Injections (corticosteroid, hyaluronic acid, stem cells, platelet-rich plasma (PRP))

Knee Replacement Recovery

It wasn't that long ago, that people would spend weeks in the hospital after a knee replacement surgery. In our training, there was the expectation that every patient would stay three to five days after surgery. Within the last couple of years, we've seen that upwards of 85% of patients will go home the same day. We say 85%, but patients have to meet certain criteria like:

• have to be able to get out of bed,

• get to the bathroom,

• have their pain controlled,

• get around safely in terms of pain management,

• and also be able to eat and drink

We are all for getting you up and moving because when you're moving you feel more normal, you feel more human and you don't have as much concern or limitations. Because of that, your pain is improved, and then, because your pain is better you don't have to take as much pain medicine. That's another thing we do better now, we don't have to give people a bunch of narcotics anymore because we come at pain from a bunch of different directions. One of our favorite pain management treatments for post-knee recovery is Iovera.

If recovery is smooth most patients are back to general activities and doing what they want to be doing within a four to six weeks.

Knee Replacement Cost

If you’re worried you will not be able to get the procedures you need because of an expensive knee replacement cost, don’t be. We will work closely with you to make sure you can pay for the treatments you need to start living life without chronic knee pain. We tailor our procedures for every patient who walks through our doors, so all costs are set by the physician for each individual patient. Don’t worry about being blindsided by expensive rates after your surgery, you will always see the rates before we perform any procedures or treatments.