How Two Patients Took the Plunge Into Hip and Knee Surgery

Faced with the choice of living with intense pain or experiencing the disruption of major surgery, many patients become paralyzed, researching and considering their options for months or even years. Many reach a tipping point when their quality of life has suffered enough that surgery seems the easier option.

Surgery is often the last resort
"It should be when you have failed conservative treatment, when your lifestyle is being impaired, and when the pain is such that it's occurring not only when you move but even when at rest and at night," says Bernard Rubin, DO, director of the rheumatology fellowship at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth.

"Patients have to feel that they've exhausted other available options and those available options are simply not giving them enough relief," agrees Sharon Kolasinski, MD, interim director of the rheumatology division at the University of Pennsylvania. "There's no one point, people reach that point at different times and at different ages."

It's up to you
Most physicians, Dr. Kolasinski says, wait for the patient to express interest in surgery. That signals that the patient is ready for the long road ahead.

"You're much more likely to have a successful outcome, in terms of the control of pain and good function, in a patient who's on the same page as you," says Dr. Kolasinski, "Someone who says 'I embrace this, I understand I have to participate in the rehab, I have to put some energy in this.'"