Faith Regional Health Services | living WELL | Fall 2018

FRHS.ORG 13 treatments haven’t helped. These include pain relievers, steroid injections, exercise, physical therapy and assistive devices, such as a walker or a cane. Am I ready to commit to recovery? Removing a natural knee and replacing it with artificial parts is a major surgery. For better healing, you may need to stop smoking and lose weight before- hand. And afterward you’ll need physi- cal therapy to regain muscle strength, range of motion and good mobility. But keep your eyes on the prize: This surgery eases pain for most people. “Every patient has a different goal 2 3 1 they want to get back to,” says John Lammli, MD, Orthopedic Surgeon at Faith Regional Health Services. “Here in northeast Nebraska, we see a lot of patients who are involved in agriculture. They want to be ready to farm when spring time or fall comes around and are having trouble getting in and out of the tractor. We also see a lot of active patients who want to get back to hunting or golf. “When considering a joint replace- ment, I tell my patients that they will know they are ready when they’ve ex- hausted their other options and they realize they’ve become a spectator in life, not a participant.” If you’re about to have knee replacement surgery, ask about receiving iovera° treatment. This treatment is a clinically proven, non-opioid, long-lasting pain management solution that uses the body’s natural response to cold to im- mediately relieve pain. With over 12,000 patient treatments performed to date, iovera° represents a widely growing option for managing pain after surgery. In clinical results comparing 50 pa- tients who were treated with iovera° five days prior to a total knee replace- ment surgery to 50 patients who were not, the iovera° treated group 1 : •  Requested less opioids than the control group, while reporting similar function and pain scores. 2 •  Experienced less stiffness at 6 and 12 weeks post-surgery. 3 •  Experienced less knee pain at 6 and 12 weeks post-surgery. 3 The iovera° system is cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to block pain in peripheral nerves. It can also relieve pain and symptoms Sources: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons; Arthritis Foundation; National Institutes of Health Having a knee replaced? Read this associated with osteoarthritis of the knee for up to 90 days. Benefits of cryotherapy The iovera° treatment is based on cryo- therapy, which uses the power of cold to block nerves from sending pain signals. The iovera° system forms a targeted cold zone around the nerve tissue to block the pain signals, creating a tempo- rary but reversible nerve block for lasting pain relief. Sources: 1 Dasa V, Lensing G, Parsons M, Harris J, Volaufova J, Bliss R, Percutaneous freezing of sensory nerves prior to total knee arthroplasty. The Knee, 2016. 23(3): p. 523-528. 2 iovera° patients requested 1933.75mg average morphine equivalents (MME) compared to 3751.25mg for non-iovera° patients over the 12 week post-surgery period. 3 Compared to a control group, iovera° patients had higher KOOS Pain Scores (difference of 11.2 and 13.4) and KOOS Symptom Scores (difference of 12 and 13.4) at 6 and 12 weeks post-surgery, respectively. Can I live with the pain I have now? If pain is affecting your daily life, surgery may be the right choice. Here are some red flags: •  It’s hard to climb stairs, get into a car or move around your home. •  You’re giving up activities you enjoy. •  You wake up at night in pain. •  Your mood and relationships are affected. •  You have more bad days than good. Have I exhausted all other options? Knee replacement surgery is typically only appropriate if other, more conservative