āFor a man this young, thatās the worst arthritis Iāve ever seen, a lessor man would have had surgery much soonerāā¦.my ortho surgeon to my wife immediately after surgery in 2007. Thus it wasnāt robotically driven surgery. I was instructed to be non weight barring for 6 weeks so I used a walker to get around. I knew it was the right thing to do, but I will say getting out of bed to go to the bathroom took a lot of grit to bear the pain that first week. I returned back to work a full two weeks later.
12 years later the other side was comparatively and literally a walk in the park. Muscle sparring approach, robotically driven, I was wheeled out the next day to the car, and then used a cane for about two days for balance/safety sake, and less than three weeks later I was walking in to a wildlife area with bow in hand for deer archery opener. No narcotics after surgery, and I returned to seeing patients three days after surgery. A couple of half days to start, but it was full blast within a week.
Hip replacement surgeries have the fastest ātime to happinessā of all joint replacements. Knees next, then shoulders and finally elbow/ankles.
A good surgeon will need to teach elbow/ankle replacement patients that there is a decent chance that that wonāt get any better function than they are currently experiencing, but they should strive to be with much less pain. It is different with hips. The great majority of young-ish patients should expect to have significant gain of function and elimination of pain.
