What should you know about total knee replacement surgery?

Before surgery, the team checks your health, medicines, skin, and mobility and explains anaesthesia and consent. In the operation, damaged joint surfaces are shaped, trial parts are checked, and the final components are secured. Afterward, staff manage pain, encourage safe movement, assess the wound, and teach exercises. The aim is to make everyday movement more manageable when conditions such as knee osteoarthritis have caused persistent disability.

Follow instructions about bathing, dressing changes, medicines, walking, and exercises. Use the prescribed aid and increase activity gradually rather than testing the knee with sudden twisting or heavy loads. Organise transport and help at home, attend physiotherapy, and keep follow-up appointments. Tell clinicians if pain prevents exercises or sleep, because the plan may need adjustment.

Contact the team promptly for fever, increasing redness or drainage, a wound that opens, worsening pain, or new calf swelling. Sudden chest pain, breathlessness, fainting, or a cold and numb foot is an emergency. Use your discharge contact numbers if you are uncertain about a change.

When can I shower, climb stairs, drive, and return to work? Which medicines and exercises are essential? Who should I call about wound changes or pain that is not controlled?