Studies & White Papers

Mitigating the Post-operative Swelling Tsunami in Total Knee Arthroplasty

Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is a treatment option for individuals with symptomatic osteoarthritis who have failed conservative therapy. In this manuscript the authors describe the pathophysiology of post-operative edema and explore the patient dependent factors potentially contributing to lymphatic dysfunction and thus directly influencing the TKA postoperative course. A proposed multimodal perioperative protocol is presented that focuses on identifying limb edema/lymphedema preoperatively, intraoperative technique changes that may decrease swelling post-TKA.

To summarize, the author, Andrew Wickline, MD suggests:

  • Normalization of BMI between 20-30; even a small drop in BMI has been correlated with lower post-op complications
  • Anti-inflammatory diet
  • Cessation of tobacco
  • Limit alcohol
  • Low sodium diet
  • Increase physical activity
  • Additional nutritional supplements

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Published on August 11, 2023