Private knee surgery in Guildford
Dealing with knee pain can be particularly troublesome, especially when there seems to be no respite. Simple, everyday tasks like walking or bending may have become increasingly difficult, and you may be struggling to carry on with your favourite sports or activities.
If the issues you’ve been experiencing haven’t got any better over time, and you feel your quality of life has been impacted, you deserve answers, as well as a route back to good health. Mount Alvernia offers a personalised treatment plan for anyone with knee concerns, focused on reducing your pain and restoring your mobility.
The four key symptoms of a knee issue include:
- Knee pain
- Swelling
- Instability (either from pain or a sensation of your leg ‘giving way’)
- Clicking/locking sensation of the knee
Will I need knee surgery?
Symptoms like these can indicate a number of knee conditions that may need treatment.
Arthritis is one of the more common conditions we see, and is often age-related. Your body’s natural ageing process causes the cartilage around your joints to wear down over time, resulting in pain and swelling. Localised to the knee, this pain can then affect your mobility, and you may find it more and more difficult to achieve simple tasks like walking up the stairs.
In severe cases, surgery such as a knee replacement may be needed, but treatment tends to be conservative, where possible. Steroid and painkiller injections may be enough to ease your symptoms, restoring the mobility that may have been lacking recently.
Torn ligaments are another frequent condition, often as a result of a sports injury, especially anything that involves frequent twisting motions, like football or hockey. This can affect patients of all ages. Depending on the severity, these can heal of their own accord, and a physiotherapy programme created by our on-site experts can boost your recovery and strengthen the knee while it heals.
More serious tears, such as an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) tear, may require reconstruction surgery, which can be performed as a minimally-invasive keyhole procedure.
What should I expect from an initial consultation?
When you first come in to see one of our consultants, they will ask for a detailed medical history, and ask about your symptoms. They will want to know:
- What symptoms have you been having?
- How long have you had these symptoms for?
- Have they got progressively worse?
- Have you had a recent injury or accident?
- If you are in pain, can you describe it? Is it a stabbing pain or does it spread out around the knee? Is it constant or intermittent?
Next, your consultant will wish to perform a physical examination, bending, lifting and moving the knee to assess the health of the joint and pinpoint any particular areas causing issue. This can highlight a large proportion of conditions, but an x-ray will also likely be used to confirm a diagnosis.
In some cases, you may also have an MRI or ultrasound, as this helps your consultant look at the soft tissues of the knee and assess for things like cartilage tears. These diagnostic procedures can be carried out in our Imaging department.
With a diagnosis in hand, your consultant can start forming a treatment plan, presenting you with all available options for your recovery.
More often than not, your treatment plan will be focused on managing your symptoms. Physiotherapy plays a huge role in rehabilitation from knee conditions, and Mount Alvernia offers unmatched facilities for those in recovery. As well as guiding you in exercises to do at home, we have our own AlterG® Anti-Gravity treadmill, providing a safe environment to begin strengthening your knee without the risk of re-injury.
Painkiller injections and oral analgesia are a good option, often in conjunction with physiotherapy while your injury heals. These can be repeated if they are proving effective.
If any of these stops working or haven’t been successful in relieving your symptoms, a range of surgeries can be considered, depending on your needs.
When arthritis is severe, a knee replacement may be needed, and this can be done either as a Partial Knee Replacement or Total Knee Replacement. A Partial Knee Replacement has the benefit of only removing the arthritic/damaged parts of the knee, leaving all the healthy tissue and bone, which makes recovery quicker. A Total Knee Replacement involves removing the entire joint and replacing with an artificial implant. Mount Alvernia has access to the very latest custom implants, ensuring all procedures are carried out to industry-leading standards.
If physiotherapy has done little to help your torn cartilage, a knee arthroscopy may be the best option. This is a form of keyhole surgery, used to repair or trim out the cartilage.
Torn ligaments, especially common tears such as an ACL tear, can be fixed with a reconstruction procedure if physiotherapy has been ineffective.
Why should I choose Mount Alvernia for my knee surgery?
By choosing to have your treatment at Mount Alvernia, you’ll be able to take advantage of all these great benefits:
Assessments ASAP – If your quality of life has been affected by the amount of pain your knee condition is causing you, you’ll want to be seen by a consultant without any unnecessary delay. By seeing patients rapidly, our consultants can get you started on the right course of treatment as soon as possible.
Patient Satisfaction – 98% of other patients in 2020 said they would happily recommend Mount Alvernia Hospital to friends and family in an independent report, and we’re confident that you’ll agree. 98% also said that the quality of care here at Mount Alvernia Hospital was either ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’. We aim to make your stay with us as comfortable as possible, and these results highlight our continued efforts to ensure this is achieved.
Personalised care – We believe in a bespoke approach to treatment, tailoring each experience to our patients’ needs and whatever may be best for you. With excellent physiotherapy resources, including the AlterG® Anti-Gravity treadmill, rehabilitation will be focused specifically on what works for you and your body.
A multidisciplinary approach – Our teams at Mount Alvernia work in tandem with each other to provide you with the best possible care from start to finish. Working closely with physiotherapists and other Orthopaedic Consultants, as well as a dedicated team of radiographers, anaesthetists, and nurses, you have support from medical professionals every step of the way during your treatment.
Convenient appointments – With appointments available at dedicated clinics from 8am to 8pm five days a week, you are sure to find an appointment slot that suits your needs and availability.
Park with ease – We know that parking should be the least of your worries when attending hospital, so our car park has space to accommodate your needs. On particularly busy days, you can also find nearby parking bays and on-street parking if spaces are limited.
If you have been suffering from significant knee pain, why not get in touch with our reception team today to book a consultation? Our consultants can organise the necessary diagnostic tests to investigate your symptoms, and outline all treatment options for you promptly, arranging any further scans or surgery if required.
For peace of mind and expert care, please contact Mount Alvernia to book an appointment now.
