Hip and Knee

For a growing number of patients, getting a hip or knee replaced means going to St. Jude’s Outpatient Surgery Center in the morning and back home that afternoon.  

Same-day, outpatient joint replacement is made possible by less invasive surgical techniques, improved pain management, comprehensive patient education, and advanced physical therapy protocols that start an hour after surgery, helping to accelerate recovery.  Rehabilitation continues at home, with visits from St. Jude Home Health physical therapists to individualize therapy and promote faster mobility in daily tasks. 

In addition to higher satisfaction with the convenience of being at home, patients undergoing outpatient joint replacement report better pain control, quicker rehabilitation and stronger recovery. 

At St. Jude, you'll find highly experienced experts in total knee replacement as well as newer, minimally invasive partial knee replacement. Unlike a total replacement in which all three compartments of the knee are replaced, a partial knee replacement removes only the damaged or diseased areas while preserving healthy bone and cartilage. This minimally invasive resurfacing technique also preserves the tendons and ligaments around the knee. 

Ideal for those whose arthritis or knee damage is confined to a limited area, our surgeons are using this advanced technique to produce exceptional results, including a more normal knee motion, better range of movement and an accelerated recovery. Considered an outpatient procedure, partial knee replacement often requires only an overnight hospital stay.  

Knee osteotomy is used to correct patella (kneecap) misalignment and maltracking, as well as address arthritis in one part of the knee.  Common procedures include distal femoral osteotomy (DFO) to correct “knock-knees” malalignment and high tibial osteotomy (HTO) to correct “bowed legs.” By restoring proper alignment and function to the kneecap, knee osteotomy allows patients to avoid the cartilage deterioration that leads to arthritis. 

A knee osteotomy allows the actual knee joint and cartilage to remain intact. Conserving the knee structure optimizes joint function and preserves the natural feeling of the knee throughout a full range of motion. These factors can be especially important to young patients with congenital misalignment or adult patients who want to continue to do activities that require higher levels of knee function, such as running, squatting, kneeling, and climbing

In certain patients, knee osteotomy is also used to improve chronic arthritis pain and prevent or delay the need for total joint replacement.  Patients who can benefit include those with unilateral knee arthritis, meaning there is damage on just one side or “compartment” of the knee joint.  By strategically altering the alignment or shape of the bone, pressure and weight are shifted away from portions of the knee affected by arthritis.

When the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is torn—an injury common to athletes and weekend warriors—surgery is often required to replace or “reconstruct” the damaged ligament. All-inside ACL reconstruction replaces the longer incisions used in traditional ACL surgery with 3 or 4 puncture-sized holes, earning it the nickname “no scar ACL.”  

Despite significantly improving the cosmetic result, all-inside reconstruction offers the same or better long-term outcomes as traditional ACL surgery. Made possible by advances in instrumentation, all-inside ACL is less invasive and allows a more natural anatomical placement of the new ligament.

This arthroscopic procedure is performed by attaching an ACL graft to small sockets in the femur and tibia. Unlike traditional ACL surgery where a “tunnel” is drilled in the tibia to secure the tendon, all-inside ACL surgery requires only a small socket to be created and avoids violating the hard outer shell of the femur and tibia, which is rich in nerve endings. 

In addition, while traditional ACL surgery involves harvesting two of the patient’s three hamstring tendons, the all-inside technique typically requires just one. The result is less pain and inflammation, shorter recovery, and quicker return to everyday activities. 

The number of hip replacements performed in the U.S. continues to increase rapidly, particularly among 40- to 55-year-olds, as improvements in surgical techniques and implant technology make it a highly successful and valuable procedure for younger, active patients.

Traditional hip replacement surgery involves making an incision on the side of the hip (lateral approach) or the back of the hip (posterior approach). Both techniques offer good results but both involve detaching the muscles and tendons from the hip to access the joint. 

The direct anterior hip replacement is a minimally-invasive alternative to traditional hip replacement. This approach involves a 3 to 4 inch incision on the front of the hip that allows the joint to be replaced by moving muscles aside along their natural tissue planes, without cutting or detaching any tendons. 

Because neither the muscles nor the posterior hip capsule are violated, postoperative hip dislocation rates—the leading cause of hip replacement failure— are reduced. In addition, patients experience less pain and muscle weakness (both short and long-term), recover faster, and typically return home within 24-48 hours of surgery. Learn more.