What is a Joint Replacement?
Joint replacement is most frequent in the hip and knee. Other joints that may require replacement include the ankle, elbow, parts of the hand and feet, spine, and wrists. Along with this, there are two major types of joint replacement patients undergo: partial and total.
What is
Partial Joint Replacement?
Occasionally,
most of your joint may appear to be fine despite another part being damaged. In
this circumstance, it’s only necessary to replace the damaged part of the joint.
For example, the knee is
divided into three sections: the medial (inside), the lateral (outside), and
the patella (knee cap). A partial knee replacement occurs when one of these
three sections are replaced. In hip and shoulder replacements, the ball joint is typically the
part that gets replaced.
What is
Total Joint Replacement?
When a
joint requires completely new parts, each compartment is replaced. This
procedure is called a total joint replacement. In our previous example with the
knee, all three sections of the knee – medial,
lateral, and patella – would be replaced. For a total shoulder or hip replacement,
both the socket and ball joint are replaced.

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