What to Consider Before Hip or Knee Replacement Surgery

What Does a Joint Replacement Do?

Interviewer: You've been considering a total joint replacement, whether it be a hip or a knee, and you're wondering if it's right for you. In this series of podcasts, we're not only going to talk about that, but if you decide to have the procedure, we'll give you some insight as to what you can expect before, during, and after.

In this very first podcast, we want to cover whether a total joint replacement is right for you. So are you a likely candidate for it? We want to make sure that you understand your condition. Why you should talk to family members, which is an important component of it. Plus, also, have you considered other, more conservative measures before considering a joint replacement?

Dr. Chris Pelt is a joint replacement expert at University of Utah Health's University Orthopedic Center. First of all, what types of joint problems can a joint replacement improve, because it doesn't fix everything?

Dr. Pelt: Joint replacement is designed to alleviate pain associated with arthritis of the hip or knee. It's a surgery that's usually performed after people have tried other conservative methods of reducing pain, and after pain interferes with ability to perform the things that they need to do, enjoy doing, and actually their quality of life.

Who Is Not a Good Candidate For Joint Replacement?

Interviewer: Now, who are some people that might not be good candidates?

Dr. Pelt: Well, anybody may be a candidate, but there are definitely people who may be at higher risk for complications, or who may not be an ideal candidate to undergo surgery at that stage of their life. Certain high-risk people might be people with morbid obesity or increased body weight. That increases their risk for decreased lifespan of the joint. It also increases their risks for complications like infections and other things. 

Similarly, patients with diabetes need to have well-controlled diabetes. Smokers need to stop smoking before they can be a candidate for joint replacement, because it increases their risk of infections, poor wound healing, and even pain afterwards. So these are a few areas that we can perhaps medically optimize before.

What Qualities Do I Need for Joint Replacement?

We also want to ensure that the patient is the right candidate for joint replacement, because their arthritis is advanced enough on an X-ray. That means a bone-on-bone type of arthritis. And that's something that you can see that with the joint replacement specialist or your primary care doctor, even with an X-ray. And also patients who have gone through previous conservative methods, trying to avoid surgery. We don't like to perform a joint replacement surgery on everybody simply because it may not last forever.

So if you're really young, there's a good chance that we're going to try to maximize the life of your native joints so that you can live longer and hopefully maintain your own joints before needing a joint replacement. Decreasing your need for potential future revisions of a joint replacement when you eventually do have that.

Interviewer: Yeah, so this sounds like some good common guidelines, but I think it's important to contact a professional such as yourself to maybe help somebody make that decision.

Dr. Pelt: Absolutely. Most of our patients will usually have gone through their primary care doctor or even a non-operative orthopedic specialist, psychiatrist, or sports medicine doctors through some conservative methods before they reach an arthroplasty surgeon. And what that does is allow them to have an optimization of that conservative treatment before a surgery is offered.

When Should I Talk to My Doctor About Joint Replacement?

Dr. Pelt: Yeah, some people will have gone through their primary care doctor and other non-operative doctors. Some people just know they have arthritis, have talked to their family. I think it's really important to realize this is a big decision. It's a very big surgery. You want to take the time to talk to your families, talk to your care providers, and meet with your surgeons if it's ultimately felt that joint replacement is right for you.

In the end, when we've tried all those conservative treatments, avoiding the surgery, the time to consider doing a joint replacement is, when pain is not being controlled with those other things, and now pain as primarily pain interferes with three components of your life. It's the things you need to do, and those are the things like going to work, caring for yourself, caring for your family, caring for your home. Those day-to-day activities of daily living.

The second aspect of life that is interfered with pain is the activities of leisure and enjoyment. Those things you like to do, whether it's gardening, skiing, hiking, walking, or riding bicycles. Any of those types of activities that you want to be doing more of, but pain is prohibiting you from doing that.

And the third component is the quality of life. It's your ability to be happy. One of my patients told me it's their ability to smile every day. When pain is starting to impact your life to such a point that you're grumpy and you're not smiling, that's a good indicator that it's time to talk to somebody about this.

Interviewer: Coming up in a couple of more podcasts, we're going to cover specifically if you're considering a knee or hip replacement, the similarities and the differences. Then, also in the series of podcasts, if you decide that this is something that you want to do, we'll give you some information as to how you can prepare for your surgery and what to expect after.

_{updated: May 7, 2026
originally published: March 11, 2015}