Knee replacement

[Griff4114]

hello all

can anyone recommend a hospital in udon Thani for knee replacement surgery...

[CharlieH]

Moving to Isaan forum for local knowledge.

[happylarry]

Hi Griff,

how sure are you that you need surgery???

i say that because a few weeks ago my knee went and I was in terrible pain and I went to see two different doctors and was examined and told that a knee replacement was 150,000 up. Anyway I can't afford that so I bought a knee stabilizer sleeve thing, which was fantastic and gave me relief as soon as I started wearing it. Anyway to cut a long story short I went to a different hospital for a different reason and while I was there I saw the bone specialist who examined me and said that I was not bad enough to warrant surgery at the moment because I had full use of my knee and although there was degradation of the muscle around the joint I could build this up again with a special exercise.

Anyway I started the exercise and now I have no pain whatsoever except if I twist the knee sideways, but walking is no problem at all.

So I would make absolute sure that you do need surgery before you decide to go for it.

The hospital I visited seems to care for the patients health more than their wallets and I am really pleased that I found them, although they are in Korat.

[Griff4114]

5 hours ago, happylarry said:

Hi Griff,

how sure are you that you need surgery???

i say that because a few weeks ago my knee went and I was in terrible pain and I went to see two different doctors and was examined and told that a knee replacement was 150,000 up. Anyway I can't afford that so I bought a knee stabilizer sleeve thing, which was fantastic and gave me relief as soon as I started wearing it. Anyway to cut a long story short I went to a different hospital for a different reason and while I was there I saw the bone specialist who examined me and said that I was not bad enough to warrant surgery at the moment because I had full use of my knee and although there was degradation of the muscle around the joint I could build this up again with a special exercise.

Anyway I started the exercise and now I have no pain whatsoever except if I twist the knee sideways, but walking is no problem at all.

So I would make absolute sure that you do need surgery before you decide to go for it.

The hospital I visited seems to care for the patients health more than their wallets and I am really pleased that I found them, although they are in Korat.

Hello happylarry

 

pretty sure it needs doing, the right one has been done already and the left is now worse then what the right was. I sustained injuries to both knees when I was in the army. 

What was the name of the hospital in Korat.

[happylarry]

Pho Phaet 2 Hospital. 

For your info I saw the specialist for the knee and also a surgeon because I suspected I might have a hernia (I didn't) and the bill for both examinations was 520 baht total.

HL

[sinbin]

On 3/12/2017 at 9:35 PM, happylarry said:

Pho Phaet 2 Hospital.

I'm struggling to find this hospital. Could you be more precise as to it's location please?

[SantiSuk]

A bit too private patient oriented but there may be some pointers in here. I was looking (unsuccessfully) for a longish thread that I previously came across that had a long discussion on the merits of replacement vs management/medication to delay the need for surgery. Definitely a consideration for hips where you don't want to do a replacement if you can manage (comfortably) a few more years with lifestyle changes, medication and  phsyio*, but perhaps replacement knees last longer til death, dunno. If you want to see that discussion OP then post a private message on ThaiV to ThaiV member 'Sheryl', a medic who seems to know a lot about the subject and has clear hands-on expertise in a Thai/SEA context.

 

My experience of orthopaedics in Isaan (confined to Ubon) is that they do not have a lot of exposure to hips and knees in the context of osteoarthritis - if that is your problem. I was surprised to learn that Thais do not have the same problems as westerners (and particularly middle easterners) due to racial weight/frame differentials.

 

 

 

* the opinion of leading orthopaedic consultants in Thailand and the UK, excluding a certain (money-hungry?) surgeon at that well-known Bangkok private hospital in lower Sukhumvit. [My experience is recent - ie this year]

Edited September 24, 2017 by SantiSuk