Women and Joint Replacement Surgery: When Is It Time?

Do you think you need joint replacement surgery? If you've been putting it off, you may want to reconsider.

According to Joseph J. Ciotola, M.D., a top-rated orthopedic surgeon at Orthopedics and Joint Replacement at Mercy, if pain is affecting your normal daily life and you've exhausted all the non-surgical options, it may be time. Waiting too long can cause bigger problems, like becoming stiff.

With women, knee replacements are most common, then the hip and shoulder. Dr. Ciotola also warned to watch out for regenerative medicine.

"There is really no real regenerative medicine. If there was, we'd be doing it," Dr. Ciotola said. "There are therapies like platelet-rich plasma that do seem to help with patients' pain that are having joint replacements, and I've used that, and I've used the fat, the bone marrow. These things have anti-inflammatory proteins that make the patients feel better, but they're cash only."

Dr. Ciotola added that joint replacement technology has come a long way, and the plastic lasts forever because it's so strong.

View Dr. Ciotola’s interview regarding joint replacement surgery.