We provide fast, quality knee services at The Beaumont Hospital in Bolton, Greater Manchester.
At The Beaumont Hospital, we provide an experienced team of knee specialists to help manage and even eliminate your knee pain, including consultants and physiotherapists. We offer a range of sophisticated diagnostic testing and effective treatment options for debilitating knee pain, including tailored surgery such as knee replacement surgery.
When you visit us for your initial appointment, your consultant will discuss your symptoms with you and carry out a comprehensive assessment to find the best treatment option for you. If you require treatment, whether non-operative (conservative) or operative (surgical), we can get this arranged for you quickly.
We know how limiting and frustrating it can be to live with pain, stiffness, or weakness in one or both of your knees. But effective treatment options are available for a wide range of knee complaints. We can help you access these with the right healthcare professional.
The Beaumont Hospital is located in Bolton in Greater Manchester. People visit us from across Lancashire and the North West, from local areas including Wigan, Bury, Chorley, Leigh, Worsley and Burnley. We also welcome patients from across the UK as well as abroad. When you go private, you can choose which hospital and which consultant are the best fit for you.
The knee surgeries offered at the Beaumont Hospital include:
In the sections below, we will look at each type of knee surgery in more detail so that you'll know what you can expect if you choose to have knee surgery with us.
Knee replacement surgery is a common procedure to restore function and mobility to your damaged knee.
"If you've got arthritis pain that lasts for weeks, are taking a reasonable dose of painkillers, and an X-Ray reveals arthritis in part or all of your knee - that's when you'd be thinking about an operation," says Dr William Ryan, consultant orthopaedic surgeon at The Beaumont.
During knee replacement surgery, your consultant will remove the damaged cartilage and some bone from the surfaces that form your knee joint. Then they will attach an artificial implant (known as a prosthesis) made of stainless steel and plastic to the end of the bones, which gives your knee a new surface.
Knee replacements can be partial or total. During a partial replacement, your surgeon only replaces the damaged parts of your knee. During total knee replacement, both sides of your knee joint — the end of the thigh bone and the end of the femur - are replaced, along with your kneecap.
Knee replacement surgery "is a life-changing event," says Dr Ryan. It brings significant benefits, such as:
"A person who may not have been able to walk 100 yards without pain can now walk several miles with no difficulty," Dr Ryan adds.
According to the esteemed medical journal The Lancet, over 80% of total knee replacements and 70% of partial knee replacements last for 25 years.1
There are some risks factors, but these are not common. It is important to remember that all surgeries have risk factors, no matter how minimally invasive. These include:
These knee replacements offer 'patient-specific surgical instruments and patient-specific implants' that are uniquely designed for you based on a CT scan of your knee. The scans are sent to the United States, where tailor-made implants and instruments are manufactured to match your anatomy.
Conformis implants offer a 'less invasive, patient-specific' knee replacement, says Dr James Childs, who is also a consultant trauma and orthopaedic surgeon at The Beaumont.
"Your recovery from knee replacement surgery takes at least three months", says Dr Childs. "You will undertake physiotherapy for some or all this period. However, many people who follow their physiotherapy instructions are able to return to their daily activities within three to six weeks after surgery.
"Evidence suggests that improvement continues for quite a long period, of 18 months or so," says Dr Childs, "whilst patients get their mobility and confidence back and strengthen their muscles."
Dr Childs says that knee arthroscopies are generally recommended for people with the following conditions:
Symptoms may include a catching or clicking sensation in your knee and localised pain on either side of the knee. "If these symptoms persist, an arthroscopy may be needed," Dr Childs says.
Before starting your arthroscopy procedure, you will receive an anaesthetic. Then your consultant will make two small incisions on either side of your kneecap: one for the camera that allows them to see inside your knee and the other for the small surgical instruments.
Your consultant will use the instruments to remove the loose bodies or the loose piece of the meniscus to repair the meniscus altogether.
Knee arthroscopy takes between 30 minutes to an hour. "That's it." Dr Childs says. "You don't need to stitch the wounds, you just put dressings on and a bandage. Then the patient wakes up and goes home, usually on the same day," he adds.
The consultant adds that the risks of complications after an arthroscopy are very small. "There's about 1 in 1,000 risk of infection, 1 in 1,000 risk of blood clots in the average population, a small risk of recurrence of the meniscal tear, and a small risk of arthritis in your knee later on."
Your recovery from knee arthroscopy takes between four and six weeks, explains Dr Ryan. During this period, you will follow exercises as part of a supervised physiotherapy plan.
Knee ligaments can be damaged due to trauma or injury, for example, during a football injury or a traffic accident.
"Damaged ligaments often heal on their own and don't need any surgical treatment," Dr Childs explains. "But of the ones that do need surgical treatment, the ACL would be the most common."
Usually, ACL knee injury affects younger people playing sports. "Teenagers to roughly 40 years old males who play football, tennis, skiing, netball [are prone to] twisting injuries."
ACL surgery is the most common ligament operation, but The Beaumont Hospital also offers less common procedures, such as repair of the medial collateral ligament (MCL), or the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL).
The majority of ACL surgeries are done arthroscopically at the Beaumont Hospital. During the procedure, your surgeon uses tiny instruments to clear away the remains of the damaged ligament and any scar tissue or debris.
Your consultant will make an incision just below your knee and use a couple of tendons from the back of your knee to make the repair. "They will drill a hole through your knee, pass the grafted tendons through the hole, and fix them in place with hooks or screws," Dr Childs says. After this is done, your surgeon will deal with any remaining issues and close the wound with a bandage.
"ACL surgery is about 90% successful in terms of getting the person back to their sporting activity," says Dr Childs. Your knee will feel stronger after the procedure. It reduces the following symptoms:
"Generally, patients are very happy with the procedure," explains Dr Childs. However, there is a small risk of complications, such as:
"ACL surgeries can be done as a day case, but occasionally people stay overnight," Dr Childs says. "The procedure is moderately painful, but most young people can go home with painkillers on the day of surgery."
The recovery after ACL knee surgery takes longer than meniscal repairs. Six months of supervised physiotherapy is usually necessary to fully get back to normal.
During the procedure, your leg is realigned to take pressure off the affected area.
"Knee osteotomy works really well." Dr Childs explains, with a pain reduction success rate of about 80%. As opposed to a knee replacement, which restricts the younger population from engaging in the sports activities they enjoy, an osteotomy enables them to return to these activities even if the pain does not go away entirely. You may still need mild painkillers such as paracetamol after this procedure.
Knee osteotomy is often performed at the same time as cartilage repair. During this procedure, cartilage grafts from other healthy joints are used to repair the damaged cartilage and reduce pain.
"The big selling point for The Beaumont is that it's actually quite small and friendly and everybody knows everybody else," Dr Childs says. "When you go there you'll see how friendly and welcoming everyone is."
When you choose to go private with Circle Health Group, you can expect:
If you want to know more about whether orthopaedic surgery is the right option for you, book your appointment online today or call a member of our team directly on 0141 300 5009.
