Knee replacements more than doubling in the US

Just like age-defying baby boomers, older folks have seen a surge in knee replacement surgeries, driven partly by a desire to stay active and by joint-damaging obesity.The findings are in a study of more than 3 million Medicare patients, aged 65 and older, who got artificial knees from 1991 through 2010. Almost 10 percent of the operations were redos - replacing worn-out artificial joints.The number...

Knee Replacement Surgeries For Older Adults On The Rise

surgeries have doubled in 20 years, especially for aging individuals in the U.S., the number of knee-replacement surgeries increased to almost 224,000 in 2010. While knee surgeries surged by 162 percent, surgeries to mend artificial knee joints increased by 106 percent during the same time. The study noted that the rise in obesity as well as current financial practices could increase the number of...