Key Orthopaedic Procedures

Orthopaedic Surgeon Grafton

ACL reconstruction

An ACL reconstruction is very different from a knee replacement. It involves fashioning a new ACL from some other tissue and grafting that through the knee in the same place as the original ACL.

In most cases, there isn’t anything artificial about an ACL reconstruction. Because the operation involves making a new ACL, rather than fixing the torn one, it can still be done years after the original injury.

The typical ways to reconstruct the knee’s ACL are by using hamstring tendons or the patella tendon. Dr Martin has expertise in both methods and with ACL revision or re-do surgery. The surgery can take up to 2 hours and usually involves 1 night in hospital.

Read more…

Hip Replacement

A hip replacement is a very successful operation for someone having a bad time with a worn-out hip. It is usually an option for a patient with bone on bone arthritis who has failed to get satisfactory relief from other treatments.

The idea of the operation is to decrease pain and improve function.

The surgery itself involves removing the head of the femur (thigh bone) which is the ball of the joint and fashioning a new socket. A stem inside your thigh bone provides support to the ball. Some people have an idea that an artificial joint will be a “super joint” which isn’t the case, but an artificial hip is usually much better than a worn-out painful one.

Dr Martin routinely uses the anterior approach for hip replacement surgery.

Read more…

Knee Replacement

A knee replacement is a very successful operation for people having a bad time of it with a worn-out knee. It is an option for a patient with bone on bone arthritis who has failed to get satisfactory relief from other treatments. The idea of the operation is to decrease pain and improve function.

People typically stay 1-2 days in hospital for the surgery. As techniques and recovery from the surgery improve this has been getting less. You can stay longer if you need to though! For appropriate patients who would find a very short stay in hospital convenient, Dr Martin can offer a 24 hour stay for the surgery. Dr Martin frequently performs bilateral knee replacement surgery, and these patients are often in hospital only two days too. Dr Martin uses dissolvable stitches but you still need to keep the wound covered with a dressing for about 2 weeks. Dr Martin routinely uses the subvastus approach for knee replacement surgery.

Read more…

Revision hip and knee replacement.

Sometimes a hip or knee replacement will fail and require redo surgery to relieve pain and restore function. That is called a revision. In general a revision hip or knee replacement is a bigger operation than the original (called primary) replacement. A more extensive and heavy duty prosthesis is often required. The rehabilitation would often be a bit slower and you might stay in hospital longer than for a normal hip or knee replacement.

Read more…