A new study demonstrates increased risk of weight gain in patients after a knee replacement. Data of nearly a thousand patients from Mayo Clinic in Rochester was evaluated. It was concluded that five years after surgery, thirty percent of patients had minimum of five percent increase in weight from time of the surgery. But when compared to a group of similar people who did not have a history of hip replacement only less than twenty percent had a similar weight gain.
It is believed that there are many reasons for this weight gain post knee replacement. Age at which a patient required surgery is a key factor. People usually observe weight gain in their 50s and 60s. Also, patients get used to their arthritis and develop habits of going easy on their knees. These habits are continued even after surgery. Furthermore, patients that lost weight before the surgery were slight at an increase risk to gain weight after. On the whole, researchers think that health care provider should inform patients about these weight gains and encourage them to adopt a more active lifestyle after surgery. Â When treating the patient as a whole, we must be mindful of the negative effects of increased weight including heart disease and diabetes.
