From an interview with
Dr. Ardalan Sayan
McLeod Orthopaedics – Dillon

When pain and the inability to handle normal daily activities hits your knee, several options exist to get you back on your feet again.  McLeod Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Ardalan Sayan explains Knee Reconstruction and Knee Replacement.

Here’s a summary of Dr. Sayan’s remarks:
Joint reconstruction and joint replacement are my specialties. Joint reconstruction often involves a traumatized joint or debilitated joint that’s just not quite at the point where it needs to be replaced. It often involves more minimally invasive procedures and sometimes involves procedures that we use to make the joint better in form and function without having to replace it.

Joint replacement is one of the most successful surgeries known to man. It has revolutionized the way that people who have joints that were painful, non-functional go about their lives in terms of giving them back their mobility, getting them out of pain and restoring their function and quality of life. With the amount of technology we have and their ability to last decades, younger people have become candidates for joint replacement into their 30s and 40s. Mostly, it is reserved for patients 50 and older who have significant arthritis from post-traumatic arthritis, a significant injury, or over time the joints has worn out. We can completely replace the joint and then give them back their function, their mobility, get them out of pain and return them to enjoying their lives without dealing with the problem it all every day.

Reconstructive procedures usually are a result of either trauma as a child, some type of dysplasia or something that caused the joint to grow abnormally. In many cases it can be wear and tear from athletics.

And joint reconstruction is usually a procedure where we can keep all the parts of the native joint and have it still perform at a high level without having to replace it.

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