Hello and welcome back once again to the ThreeSpires Physiotherapy blog where we have a look at all things physiotherapy related. Recently there was an interesting article on the BBC website that highlighted a recent piece of research about joint replacements and tried to give an answer to a common question that we as physiotherapists hear: “how long will my hip or knee replacement last for?” The BBC article can be found by following the link here and the full article that the BBC article reported can be found in The Lancet here.

The length of time that a hip or knee replacement would last in the past was not a huge consideration as most joint replacements were given to very elderly patients and it was assumed that they would die before the joint replacement wore out. However, as patients are living longer and also many much younger patients are getting hip and knee replacements it has become more important to have an estimate of how long a joint replacement will last for. Certainly as physiotherapists seeing patients in the community we have a lot of much younger patients who have had joint replacements and who want to have an idea of how long their new joint may last for. The results from these studies are pretty encouraging for anyone who has had a knee or hip replacement. The study showed that just under 90% of hip replacements last 15years, 70% last 20 years and 58% lasted 25 years. For knee replacements it was 93% lasting 15 years, 90% lasting 20 years and 82% lasting 25 years.

From a read of the actual studies a reasonable statement seems to be that most hip or knee replacements will last at least 20 years and possibly longer. Given the average age of a hip replacement patient is late 60s this seems to be good news. However for younger patients (we do see some patients in their 40s) who have had a hip or knee replacement it does mean that they are likely to need a revision at some point.

Okay, hope you have enjoyed this blog. If you or someone you know has had a hip or knee replacement and would like physiotherapy to help with recovery then please get in touch. We are a home visit physiotherapy service based in Lichfield and able to see patients in Sutton Coldfield, Tamworth, Rugeley, Cannock and Walsall.