What is a total knee or total hip replacement?
A total hip replacement removes the arthritic ball of the upper thigh bone as well as the damaged cartilage from the hip socket. The ball is replaced with a metal ball that is solidly fixed inside the femur. The socket is replaced with a plastic or metal liner that is usually fixed inside a metal shell. The implants create a new smoothly functioning joint and replaces the previously painful bone-on-bone contact. A total knee replacement is really a cartilage replacement with an artificial surface. The knee itself is not replaced, only the cartilage on the ends of the bones. The replacement implants includes a metal alloy on the end of the thighbone and polyethylene (plastic) on the shinbone and kneecap. The implants create a new, smoothly-functioning joint that replaces the previously painful bone-on-bone contact.
