There is an ideal time for hip or knee replacement patients to undergo surgery and waiting too long may reduce the benefits of surgery, according to new data released by an orthopedic surgeon and researcher at University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worchester.
David Ayers, MD, is chair of the department of orthopedics and physical rehabilitation, and Patricia Franklin, MD, director of clinical research for orthopedics and physical rehabilitation at UMass Medical School.
The new data is based on a study of 17,000 patients. The patient data was gathered by more than 136 orthopedic surgeons across 23 U.S. states through a joint replacement monitoring program and database called FORCE-TJR, led by Dr. Ayers and Dr. Franklin.
The nationally-recognized physical composite score for an individual with no joint pain or functional difficulty is 50. The study found that typical patient scores improve an average of 12 points after total joint replacement surgery. However, 20 percent of patients who wait to have surgery until their physical composite score is 25 or lower generally don't get the full 12 points of improvement after surgery.
"That's what we hear a lot from patients and doctors — to wait until you can't take it anymore. But the data is telling us that for typical patients, there's only a fixed amount of improvement you can get from surgery. So if you wait too long, you don't get the full value," said Dr. Ayers
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