Page 16 - Healthcare News Mar/Apr 2021

REHABILITATION
Jack Jury says today’s joint-replacement patients experience less pain and a shorter rehab than in the past.
The Next Step
EAffective Rehab Boosts Joint-replacement Outcomes
By MARK MORRIS for knees and 300,000 “
for hips. According to s we age, it’s not unusual for our Snyder, this safe and
joints to become worn down effective surgery is
from decades of use. For most proliferating because, as people, their knees, hips, or people age, they want to shoulders will develop painful remain active through
arthritis and need some kind of attention. their later years.
When a patient suffers from especially severe joint In the past, surgeries
pain, doctors usually begin treatment by recom- were often held off until
We find that mobilizing patients early promotes faster recovery, less pain, and fewer complications.”
mending physical therapy, as well as pain medica- tions or an assistive device such as a cane or a walker. When these non-operative approaches work, they can provide relief and delay an eventual surgery.
However, “if the pain, function, and quality of
life do not improve for the patient, that’s when we recommend joint-replacement surgery,” said Dr. Ben Snyder, an orthopedic surgeon at Cooley Dickinson Health Care.
Nearly 1 million Americans undergo joint-re- placement surgery every year, with around 600,000
patients were in their
70s because older-mod-
el replacement joints would not hold up for more than 10 or 15 years. “But improvements in joint-re- placement techniques and technology have increased the longevity of joint-replacement surgery,” Snyder said. “Because of that, we’ve seen a big increase in patients who are 55 to 65 years old.”
A key to success for joint-replacement surgery involves getting patients out of bed and walking on the same day of surgery, Snyder noted. “We find that
DR. BEN SNYDER
mobilizing patients early promotes faster recovery, less pain, and fewer complications.”
Andrea Noel-Doubleday, assistant director of Re- habilitation Services at Cooley Dickinson, has been a physical therapist for 25 years. In that time, she said, helping patients with their rehab has improved greatly because it has become a much less painful process for the patient.
“Joint-replacement surgeries have evolved and become so good that we just guide patients through
16 WWW.HEALTHCARENEWS.COM MARCH/APRIL 2021