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Welcome back. I’m Dr. Dan Lieberman, your host on Best…
read moreThe team at Phoenix Spine and Joint wants you to know exactly what to expect during your patient experience. For patients undergoing one of our minimally invasive knee procedures, we’ve prepared the following detailed checklist for your pre- and postoperative timeline.
Getting ready for your visit — your preoperative checklist
You’ll be given instructions from a member of our team on preparations to make before coming in for your preoperative appointments. Before coming for your procedures, follow these steps:
We understand the preoperative period can be a somewhat stressful time. This is why we’ll be here to help you prepare and answer any questions or concerns you have.
Post-surgical timeline
The first hours, days and weeks after your knee procedure will be crucial to the healing and recovery process. It is essential to closely follow your postoperative instructions that are provided to you.
Immediate recovery. Receive postoperative instructions. Attend postoperative checkups. Start moving with caution.
Start increasing your movements and activity. Take medication as directed. Monitor incision site. Use ice and heat as directed to manage pain.
Increase your movements carefully. Follow instructions for therapeutic exercise. Continue with medications and at-home treatments.
Attend three-week postoperative appointment. Listen to your body. Work up to 30 minutes of walking a day. Make return-to-work preparations.
First one to two days after minimally invasive knee surgery
First week after surgery
Upon discharge and after your initial postoperative appointments, continue to monitor the incision and slowly start to return to normal activities by following the instructions provided by your surgeon and support staff. Each patient is different, but these are some of the typical guidelines you may expect.
Medications
Returning to normal movement
Caring for your incision and managing pain
Don’t forget to share your progress on Phoenix Spine and Joint’s social media pages. Send us a picture of you ditching your crutches or walker and use the hashtags #Ditchthewalker #Ditchthecrutches #MyRecovery #PhxSpine.
Week two after surgery
After the first week of your recovery, you will probably feel some pain around the incision site and potentially some remaining nerve pain and tingling. This is normal, and the pain will improve with time. It may take up to six months for your body to heal completely.
Week three and beyond
There’s a chance you may still feel some soreness, either when sitting still or performing certain tasks. As you improve and start to regain functionality, it is important to make sure that you are not pushing your body too hard.
Don’t forget to continue updating us on your progress via social media channels. Share your pictures and use these tags: #Ditchthewalker #Ditchthecrutches #MyRecovery #PhxSpine.
We’re here to help on your journey to relief. If you have any questions or concerns at all, please contact us at any time during your recovery process.
We’re committed to solving your knee pain problems with the least invasive treatment possible.
We use the robot on every knee surgery, which means a personalized implant selection that results in a better outcome.
We utilize the only implant that’s approved to last for 30 years.
No hospital stay means a much lower risk of infection.
Partial knee replacements are half the surgery and recovery time of a total knee.
You should do 3 weeks of physical therapy before considering an MRI—studies show worse results if you get imaging at this point. If you are not better after 3 weeks of therapy, then (6 weeks since the pan began) you should get an MRI and referral to a board-certified anesthesiologist or physiatrist with subspecialty certification and specialization in pain management. They will do a medial branch block and radiofrequency ablation as appropriate. Don’t let anyone talk you into epidural injection; that is not what you need.
You should do 3 weeks of physical therapy before considering an MRI—studies show worse results if you get imaging at this point. If you are not better after 3 weeks of therapy, then (6 weeks since the pan began) you should get an MRI. We can help you find a board-certified anesthesiologist or physiatrist with subspecialty certification and specialization in pain management who doesn’t over-prescribe dangerous narcotics.
They will offer you medial branch block and epidural injection. Those don’t really work for this problem. Your options are (off label) intradiscal injection of stem cell-derived growth factors, denervation with the relevant procedure, and then referral to a spine surgeon for interbody fusion if those fail.
You need an MRI now and referral to a spine surgeon for possible laminectomy decompression surgery. We can help you find one who is board-certified and specializes in minimally invasive surgery.
You need an MRI now and referral to a board-certified anesthesiologist or physiatrist with subspecialty certification and specialization in pain management. Don’t go to one that prescribes a lot of narcotics, they may get you killed. If you’re not better after 3 epidural injection you will be referred at 12 weeks to a spine surgeon to consider microdiscectomy. Note that you DO NOT need radiofrequency ablation; so, don’t let anyone talk you into a medial branch block.
This stuff can be confusing. Don’t sweat it. We’ve got you. Your MRI came with a report by a radiologist which describes the findings. If you don’t have a copy of your report, you can get one from the imaging center where the x-ray was taken. The doctor who prescribed the MRI has a copy as well. Find the section labeled Impression. First, under the impression, look for the word normal. If you see something like “Normal MRI of the hip then you are done. You do not need to check anything.
Next, search the impression section for the words osteonecrosis or avascular necrosis. If you see either one in the report, then ignore the rest of the report and check the osteonecrosis box. If neither of those is in the report, ignore the rest for now and continue.
This stuff can be confusing. Don’t sweat it. We’ve got you. Your x-ray came with a report by a radiologist which describes the findings. If you don’t have a copy of your report, you can get one from the imaging center where the x-ray was taken. The doctor who prescribed the x-ray has a copy as well. Find the section labeled Impression.
First, under the impression, look for the word normal. If you see something like “Normal x-ray of the hip then you are done. Check the box normal. Next, search the impression section for the word hypoplasia. If you see hypoplasia in the report then ignore the rest, and check the hypoplasia box.
If you are still going, then look for the word arthritis. The radiologist should have given the arthritis a grade from 1 to 4. If you see arthritis in the impression section but there is no grade, then look at the rest of the report for a grade 1,2,3 or 4 and check the appropriate box. If there’s no grade then you have every right to call the imaging center and ask them to have the radiologist to do their job and redo the report with a grade.
Not all orthopedic surgeons are the same. You deserve the best. That means a surgeon who is
In my experience less than 10% of orthopedic surgeons meet all five of these criteria. That means if you go to the surgeon you’ve been seeing, or the one recommended by friends or family, there’s a 90% chance you will not be getting the best.
At Phoenix Spine and Joint we make it our business to know the best. Call us for help finding the best surgeon near you who takes your insurance and is accepting new patients.
If you have any of the following red flags you need to see a doctor NOW!
Radiculopathy. This condition is most often due to herniated disc, but can also be caused by bone spurs, or compression of nerve roots as they leave the spinal canal. The traditional treatment is to confirm the herniation or compression by MRI, followed by a trial of epidural injection, with microdiscectomy or laminectomy surgery if all else fails.
Enter below and we will email or text you more information about how to get rid of your radiculopathy due to herniated disc.
Facet syndrome. Your low back pain is most consistent with arthritis. Look for confirmation on your x-ray and MRI reports with discussion about “arthritis.” The traditional treatment is radiofrequency ablation done by a pain management physician.
Enter below and we will email or text you more information about how to get rid of your low back pain due to arthritis.
Discogenic low back pain due to an annular tear. Sorry, this is the least common and the hardest to treat. Traditionally, the recommended procedure is fusion; however, that does not always work and causes adjacent level issues. More recently a denervation procedure was approved called the Intercept procedure from Relievant. Some doctors recommend injection, The two options are stem cell-derived growth factors, and ozone.
Enter below and we will email or text you more information about how to get rid of your discogenic low back pain.
