People with arthritis will eventually need a total knee replacement if they fail the other more conservative measures. These treatments include medications (anti-inflammatory medicines and analgesics), physical therapy, topical agents (arthritis rubs), intraarticular glucocorticoid injections (cortisone shots given into the knee joint), viscosupplements (lubricant injections into the knee joint), arthroscopy, and bracing.

Patients who have received the full gamut of conservative medical treatment and who continue to have either severe pain or loss of function, are considered candidates for total knee replacement.

The traditional method of total knee replacement involves making an incision through the large muscle located at the lower end of the inside of the thigh and slightly above the inside part of the knee- the vastus medialis obliquus (VMO). This large muscle is a stabilizer of the patella (kneecap) and one complication of knee replacement is patellar instability.

More recently, minimally invasive techniques using a smaller incision are becoming popular.

Prior to surgery, a careful evaluation of the patient