Treatments for osteoarthritis aim to decrease pain symptoms and increase range of motion in the joint. They may include exercise, physical therapy, medications, heat or cold therapy, and joint protection. When these treatments fail, the patient may be referred for joint replacement. Osteoarthritis is the most common reason for a total knee replacement. Doctors remove or resurface parts of the joint and bones and replace the joint with an artificial one that s usually made of metal and plastic.
Patients can generally return to most normal activities within about three months.
Typically, patients getting a knee replacement undergo general anesthesia and are completely asleep. But sometimes the anesthesia can cause nausea and vomiting. In addition, many patients dislike being unconscious during surgery. In a peripheral nerve block, patients are sedated and only the area surrounding the knee is anesthetized. A local anesthetic is administered through a catheter directly into the nerve root in the spinal column that connects to the knee area.