When to consider a knee replacement

The single question I am asked more than any other in clinic is: 'when is the right time?' The honest answer is that surgery follows life, not the other way round.

We look for a combination of imaging changes, examination findings and — most importantly — the impact arthritis is having on the things you value. Sleep, work, walking the dog on Sandbanks beach; these are the metrics that matter.

This piece walks through the signs I look for, the alternatives worth exhausting first, and what a modern enhanced-recovery pathway looks like in 2026.