A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine compared the results of total knee replacement to a non-surgical approach for osteoarthritis.
The study was conducted in Denmark and assigned 50 people to replacement, followed by 12 weeks of non-surgical therapy, and another 50 people received only the therapy. No surgery patient skipped the aftercare.
The aftercare consisted of exercise, education, dietary advice, insoles and pain medication.
Here are five other key facts:
1. In 2012, 670,000 knees were replaced at a cost of about $36 billion, mostly for osteoarthritis.
2. Twenty-six percent of those from the non-surgical group decided to proceed to knee replacement before the end of the study.
3. There were 24 adverse in the surgery group and six in the others, so neither was completely risk-free.
4. Improvement was 85 percent in the surgery group, and 68 percent in the therapy group.
5. In conclusion, results showed that total knee replacement surgery followed by non-surgical treatment produced greater pain relief and functional improvement after 12 months than did the non-surgical approach alone.