| Posted June 16, 2014 | By Cory Calendine, M.D. | Categorized under Men's Health, Women's Health |

Nobody should have to live with constant pain in their hip and knee joints. All too often, not only can we eliminate the pain, but we can completely restore your quality of life with a total joint replacement.

But these total joint replacements are not the surgeries of our parents' generation. We are making major headway with the materials we use, the techniques used to perform the surgeries and the methods employed. All of these advancements are focused on greatly reducing pain associated with the recovery and accelerating your recovery time.

In all of medicine, hip and knee replacements are responsible for restoring the highest quality of life. We expect after a total joint replacement, you will be able to move better, faster and with less pain than you did with your arthritic joint.

Studies show many patients avoid having a joint replaced because they are afraid of pain associated with the surgery, and do not want to miss out on work, life and play due to lengthy recovery times.  

We have created the Accelerated Recovery Program at Williamson Medical Center to eliminate those barriers and give people access to get their life back.

Radical Changes

In order to minimize pain and accelerate the recovery, we began looking at some radical-yet-simple methods to eliminate the two main reasons people are hesitant to have their joint replaced: pain and recovery time.

Even though it sounded radical and some were skeptical, it worked. The average hospital stay at Williamson Medical Center five years ago after a total joint replacement was four days. With the Accelerated Recovery Program, the average stay is 2.1 days.

Pre-emptive pain meds

Let's start with the pain. We pondered treating the pain before it was even an issue. We can use a simple nerve block to numb the nerves so that you do not feel the early pain from the surgery. These blocks are short-acting and knock out all the pain for 12 to 24 hours. It's a simple needle stick that is very effective.

After surgery, we realized one contributor to a lengthier recovery time was side effects from the narcotics used to control pain. You have to be off of them before you can drive, and narcotics can become addictive, so there are risks associated with using them.

So we said, why don't we try using intravenous (IV) Tylenol instead as a means to control the post-operative pain?  It is far more effective. If we can maximize the use of non-narcotic pain medications like Tylenol, the patient needs fewer narcotics, therefore eliminating one of the recovery's greatest challenges.

Get Up

Probably the most eye-opening facet to our Accelerated Recovery Program is that you no longer lie in a hospital bed for several days to recover. Now, we get you up just hours after your surgery. In 2012, we started utilizing this early mobilization and it has become a key factor to the success of this program.

We have found if you get up and move within four hours of your surgery, you have less pain. It's a totally different mindset, but I have always tried to look at things differently for patient benefit. Ultimately, your muscles want to be exercised. Life is about motion. If your muscles stay still too long, they swell and you feel more pain. If they do what they were meant to do, they just heal better. It speeds recovery time all the way around.

Too soon?

To some, this might seem like we are rushing things. But I tell people my only focus and concern is getting you recovered and back to your life. If we can get people up and around faster, they can go home faster.

But despite the fact that people are leaving the hospital earlier, they are actually leaving more active than ever before. Everything is pushed forward in this program. We have our patients bending more, and walking more independently. The clock says it's earlier in the process, but therapy goals are farther along. The steps and goals are the exact same. With pain control and appropriate motivation, we can get you through it faster.