Tag Archive for: orthopedic surgeon

Does Your Joint Replacement Have a Warranty?

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One of the most common questions patients tend to ask their orthopedic surgeons, is about how long their joint replacement will last. Will it last a certain number of years, or is there a designated warranty that comes with the joint replacement, whether hip, knee, shoulder, etc.?  While you might think this type of question would be easy to answer, your orthopedic surgeon will tell you it’s not that simple.

This question is actually quite complicated to answer for orthopedic surgeons. Everyone’s anatomy is unique and built differently. In the past, surgeons used to say after joint replacement surgery, that a patient’s artificial joints would last about 10 to 15 years. However, with modern materials and updated surgical techniques, current studies and evidence-based research show that approximately 96 percent of today’s modern joint replacements, especially knee replacements, will still be functioning past the 15-year mark.

Your joint replacement does not necessarily have a warranty, per se, as each patient is unique in both their anatomy and their level of physical activity. Sometimes a patient is notified by their surgeon that they will require revision surgery. This means that the patient will need to undergo a second surgery to fix their problem. The failure of a joint replacement can occur for variety of different reasons.  These include infection, trauma, loosening of the implant, degeneration (wearing out), or poor positioning of the original implant.

For patients who are suffering from debilitating chronic pain due to degenerative diseases such as arthritis, people who are candidates for joint replacement often suffer from severe joint pain, inflammation, stiffness, muscle weakness, and limited mobility. Therefore, undergoing joint replacement surgery can help relieve their pain, improve their mobility, and most importantly, improve their quality of life immensely.

With a drastic improvement in surgical techniques, high-quality care and materials, such as metal, ceramic, and plastic, the new artificial joint is attached the bone, allowing the bone to grow into the implant. Physical therapy will be recommended afterwards by your surgeon, as rehabilitation will dramatically increase mobility, help with balance, and decrease the recovery time, giving the patient a higher quality of life in the end.

At Colorado Center of Orthopaedic Excellence, we utilize the most advanced surgical methods available today, including minimally invasive procedures whenever possible.

To learn how you can make your joint replacement last, and if you may be a candidate for joint replacement surgery, call Colorado Center of Orthopaedic Excellence at (719) 623-1050, or request an appointment online.

Symptoms of Trigger Finger

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The complex anatomy of the hand consists of 27 bones, along with muscles, joints, tendons, nerves, and ligaments. If any of these structures become injured, pain and loss of function can put a damper on almost all activities. In other words, you rely on the use of your hands for almost everything you do on a daily basis. However, when you have constant pain and discomfort in your hands or wrists, these simple tasks become more difficult and uncomfortable. Some conditions, such as trigger finger, are not only painful, but also affect your appearance and function.

Any hand or wrist problem causing pain, swelling, discoloration, numbness or a tingling sensation, or abnormal shape, that persists for more than two or three days should be evaluated by your orthopedist to establish the cause, and allow treatment as early as possible. Early diagnosis and early treatment generally give the best results.

So, you notice that one day when making a fist, you try to straighten your fingers afterwards, when one catches when attempting to bring it back into a straight position, causing pain. After you go to a doctor to check it out, they diagnose you with a condition called trigger finger, caused by overuse.

Trigger finger, known medically as stenosing tenosynovitis, is a condition that causes pain, locking, popping or clicking of the fingers or thumb when the hand is opened or closed. Muscles in your forearm attach to tendons that run all the way down to the bones at the ends of your fingers. These muscles are what help you bend your fingers into a fist. 

The reason why we are able to open and close our hand is due to our tendons being pulled close to the bones of the fingers by pulleys. If these pulleys become too thick, stiff, tight or swollen, commonly due to inflammation, this causes the finger to “trigger” or get stuck when trying to straighten your fingers after being in a fist. Therefore, if the tendon cannot glide freely, trigger finger occurs.

Symptoms of trigger finger can occur differently for people, which is why it is not always easy to identify the cause. In its early stages, trigger finger can cause pain on the palm of your hand, or on the back side of a finger. Trigger finger causes inflammation, creating symptoms of stiffness and swelling. As the muscles and tendons in our fingers give us the ability to move, when someone is diagnosed with trigger finger, there can be a painful snapping sensation when opening and closing the hand. Often one of our fingers can get stuck in a certain position, making it painful and impossible to straighten or bend it.

To learn more about trigger finger and its symptoms, call Colorado Center of Orthopaedic Excellence in Colorado Springs at (719) 623-1050 or request an appointment online.

What is Swan Neck?

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The fingers are made up of bones called phalanges. The phalanges in each joint are separated by two joints called interphalangeal joints (IP joint). The two joints are the distal IP joint (DIP joint), meaning further away, and the proximal IP joint (PIP joint), meaning the middle or closer in. These IP joints of the fingers are like hinge joints, allowing us to have mobility with our hands, including straightening and bending. 

The tendons allow each of our finger joints to be able to flex and straighten completely. These are called extensor tendons. The extensor tendons come from the muscles that arise from the backside of the bones located in the forearm. These muscles travel toward the hand, where they eventually connect to the extensor tendons before crossing over the back of the wrist joint.

Then, the extensor tendons become what is called the extensor hood. The extensor hood becomes flat in order to cover the top of the finger. The extensor hood sends out branches of ligaments (tough bands of tissue) to connect the bones in the middle and end of the finger. When the extensor muscles contract, they tug on the extensor tendon, allowing the joints to work together, so that the finger can straighten and bend.

Finger position and movement of the hand occur from the balanced actions of many important structures, that work cohesively when everything is normal. Ligaments support the finger joints, muscles hold and give our fingers the ability to move, while tendons help control the motion of each finger. Any injury or condition can disturb the balance and inner workings of all these parts, altering functionality and the alignment and structure of the hand and fingers. The result may be a condition call swan neck.

What is Swan Neck?

Swan neck is a deformity, in simple terms, a crooked finger. The PIP joint (the joint in the middle of the main knuckle and DIP joint), includes the strongest ligament called the volar plate. These ligaments connect on the palm side of the joint. As the ligament tightens when the finger is straight, the PIP joint is protected from bending back too far, or hyperextending. Swan neck deformity occurs when the PIP joint in the finger becomes hyperextended and the DIP joint at the end of the finger is flexed, causing a crooked finger.

Swan neck symptoms include inflammation from injury, or conditions such as Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), causing pain and swelling of the PIP joint. This imbalance causes the finger to look like a swan’s neck, bent and abnormally crooked.

Your doctor will physically examine your finger, and sometimes order an X-ray to check your joints and look at the alignment, to fully diagnosis the problem. Treatment for swan neck deformity can be nonsurgical or surgical, depending upon the severity of the deformity. The approach your doctor chooses will also depend on whether the proximal IP joint is flexible or stiff.

 While the term deformity connotes a visual disturbance, remember that it can also affect mobility and day-to-day function, so getting treatment is important! To learn more about swan neck deformity and how to treat it, call the orthopedic surgeons at Colorado Center of Orthopaedic Excellence in Colorado Springs at (719) 623-1050 or request an appointment online.