Vim & Vigor - Summer 2009 - (Page 40)

make it last a guide to the care and feeding of your artificial joint by mike carlson k illustrations by matthew woodson I f you are the recent recipient of a new artificial knee or hip, welcome to a large and ever-growing club. Each year, nearly three-quarters of a million men and women get a shiny new titaniumand-plastic joint, and that number continues to increase. For the vast majority, it is welcome relief from years of progressively more painful stair-climbing, disturbed sleep and decreased quality of life. Since the first hip and knee replacements in the late 1960s, the innovations in the field have increased exponentially. Implants now last 15 to 30 years, compared with 10 years for earlier joints. But while joint replacement surgery has become more successful and less invasive, a revision—the replacement or repair of an existing artificial joint—is a more difficult proposition. “Revisions tend to remain viable for a shorter period of time than the original,” says Jason Theodosakis, M.D., an orthopedist and author of The Arthritis Cure (St. Martin’s Paperbacks, 2003.) Why? When an artificial joint is implanted, says Theodosakis, the end of the bone is shortened in preparation to accept the new joint, which is then affixed to the skeleton. While steel and plastic are easily replaced, the interface between your living bone and the artificial joint can only sustain so much wear and tear. zero-sum game If you have gone to the pain and expense of investing in an artificial joint, it only makes sense to treat it with care to get the most miles out of it as possible. Life with an artificial joint is a zero-sum game. The more active you are, the quicker you will wear it out. And unlike your joints made of blood, tissue and cartilage, titanium does not heal. “In very broad terms, an artificial joint is like the tires on your car. As soon as you start driving the car off the lot you start wearing out the tires,” says Craig Weinstein, M.D., a sports orthopedic specialist and member of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. “But you probably didn’t buy the car to leave it sitting on the showroom floor.” Nor should you. Your overall health, a positive mind-set and the integrity of your bones—which your new joint relies on—depend on maintaining an active lifestyle. Look at it this way: If you never got out of bed, your artificial joint would probably last 50 years. On the other end of that spectrum, former two-sport superstar Bo Jackson burned out his artificial hip in just three years. With the following tips, we’ll show you how to land in between those two points. WaRNiNg! To properly maintain an artificial joint over the long term, you must strike a balance between pursuing an active lifestyle and avoiding undue stress to the joint. 40 vim & vigor • su mme r 2 009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vim & Vigor - Summer 2009

Vim & Vigor - Summer 2009
Healthy Steps
Nurturing Health
Contents
Finally... Relief from Pain
Helping Hearts
Take Action
Check Your Tech
Small Wonders
Positively Healthy
On the Cover
Culinary Cures
In a Heartbeat
Make it Last
Safe Harbor
5 Million Lives
Under the Cyberknife
Around the Region
Ask the Experts
Community Connections

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