Since undergoing knee surgery in 2017, a lot of you have reached out with questions about your personal knee issues. Many of your questions are specifically related to running after knee replacement, partial or full.
To be super clear, my knee surgery was involved, but we ended up not doing a replacement.
I never want to leave people hanging though when there are questions, so I sought input from a physical therapist who was able to provide some valuable medically-based information, as well as a friend who went through the experience of a knee replacement and came out the other side running.
So can you run after having a partial or full knee replacement? We’ll get to that and more. Let’s jump in!
What is a Knee Replacement?
Before we go any further, it’s important to understand at least at a basic level what a knee replacement is and what it entails.
Knee replacement, also known as knee arthroplasty, according to Johns Hopkins is a procedure where the knee joint is resurfaced. The common cause or need for an artificial joint replacement is some type of arthritis.
Surgeons use metal and plastic parts to replace the damaged joint surfaces and even the kneecap. The surgery should relieve the knee…
