Yes you will need a referral from your GP or Sports Medicine Physician
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You will need to check your level of health cover with your Private Health Insurer. For more information regarding Medicare rebates please contact the clinic.
Please remember to bring following:
- Referral letter from GP, family physician or other doctor
- Medicare card, DVA card, Pension Card
- Have your Private Hospital Insurance information with you
- Reports, X-rays, MRI's, CT scans etc. and any other relevant information
Diagnosing injuries and disease begins with a thorough medical history, physical examination, and usually X-rays. Additional tests such as an MRI, or CT scan also may be needed. Through the arthroscope, a final diagnosis is made which may be more accurate than through "open" surgery or from X-ray studies.
Although the inside of nearly all joints can be viewed with an arthroscope, six joints are most frequently examined with this instrument. These include the knee, shoulder, elbow, ankle, hip, and wrist. As engineers make advances in electronic technology and orthopaedic surgeons develop new techniques, other joints may be treated more frequently in the future.
This will depend on your Anaesthetist. Some Anaesthetists will see you prior to the day and others will see you on the day of your surgery. You will be informed by your Surgeon at your consultation.
Getting a full range of motion, strength and flexibility back after surgery usually takes time. That's where pre-operative exercise and education and post-operative physical therapy programs come in - to ensure you're physically and emotionally prepared for surgery and to maximize your recovery after surgery.
ARTHROPLASTY SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA POSITION STATEMENT ON DRIVING AFTER TOTAL HIP AND KNEE
REPLACEMENT SURGERY
The Arthroplasty society acknowledges that driving is an important part of people’s lives and
day-to-day activities. A patient should not return to driving after a hip or knee replacement until
they can safely perform an “emergency stop” and they no longer require regular narcotic analgesia.
The ability to perform an emergency stop varies between patients, but in most cases occurs between
4 and 6 weeks following a right leg hip or knee replacement.
Licensing authorities do not specify specific driving restrictions after hip or knee replacement
and require patients to seek advice directly from their treating surgeon as to when it is safe for
them to drive.
If you have concerns regarding your ability to drive, clarification should be obtained from your
treating surgeon.
Australian Arthroplasty Society Position Statement on the use of prophylactic antibiotics for
dental procedures in patients with prosthetic joints.
The use of prophylactic antibiotics in patients with joint replacements undergoing dental procedures is controversial.
Several schools of thought exist:
• Some surgeons recommend the routine use of prophylactic antibiotics as there are rare cases where a patient
presents with a septic prosthesis and an oral organism is identified. They point to the evidence that brushing teeth
and dental instrumentation can cause a bacteraemia. It is felt that the risk posed by a dose of oral antibiotics is
low and therefore they should always be given when a patient with a prosthesis has a dental procedure.
• An alternate viewpoint is that antibiotics should not be given at all as the risk of developing sepsis from a dental
procedure is extremely low and that the evidence supporting the use of prophylactic antibiotics is lacking.
Furthermore such antibiotic administration may contribute to bacterial antibiotic resistance and the risk of
anaphylaxis from the antibiotic administration is higher than the risk of prosthetic infection.
• The middle ground is to give antibiotics when dental procedures are performed in the period immediately after
prosthesis implantation. This is based on the theory that there is a high-risk period in a freshly implanted
prosthesis when the prosthetic bone interface is maturing. This period is variously defined as between 3 and 12
months post surgery.
• It has been suggested that antibiotics might only be needed in “higher risk” situations such as major dental
procedures (an extraction or a root canal), in the immunocompromised host or in those with poor oral hygiene.
The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) and the American Dental Association (ADA) released a
combined Clinical Practice Guideline in 2013 following an extensive review of the available literature. They concluded
that there is a lack of evidence that a bacteraemia produced from dental treatment is linked to deep prosthetic
infection and there is a lack of evidence that the use of antibiotics prevents the development of deep prosthetic
infection.
The AAOS-ADA produced three recommendations and the level of supporting evidence was stated.
1. The practitioner considers changing the longstanding practice of prescribing prophylactic antibiotics for patients who
undergo dental procedures. (There is Limited evidence to support this practice)
2. No conclusion can be drawn for or against the use of topical antibiotics for patients who undergo dental procedures.
(Inconclusive evidence)
3. Patients should maintain good oral health (Consensus)
RECOMMENDATION
The Australian Arthroplasty Society agrees with this analysis and now recommends no routine antibiotic prophylaxis
be give to patients with joint prostheses undergoing dental procedures. In the immunocompromised patient or those with poor oral hygiene the surgeon is recommended to discuss the risk and benefits with his or her individual patient.
This is general advice and consideration should be given to individual patient circumstances.