Loose knee implant

Hi, I've had bilateral replacement and also had 2 revisions because of a loose implant, but it was the spacer/liner that they replaced. The right one was refitted three years ago and seven months I had the left one done. They put in twice as thick of a spacer. That helped us to stabilize the knee. still having some issues with soft tissue an recovery because they can't just swap out the part they have to open the whole knee to check the stability where it is implanted in the femur and tibia. Luckily that was solid.

Hello @lmc, I'd like to invite @rennk, @melcpa86, @gardeningranny and @hbaudouin to share their stories with various parts of their knee replacement becoming loose.

@lmc, has a potential revision been discussed with you as a fix? Have any exercises or options been discussed with you by your provider who found the implant to be loose?

I am awaiting the results of an MRI before any decision is made.

My replacement hasn’t been right since day 1. It’s been two years and I’ve had PT, have exercised…specifically to strengthen areas surrounding the knee…and I’ve had multiple surgeons tell me I need to start over. They look at the x-rays and tell me that the alignment looks good but that it’s obviously loose. I just saw a surgeon that says the issue is that the spacer that was put in is too thin which is what is causing it to be loose so they said they can replace that instead of starting over. After two years of pain, I hope he’s right.

Thanks for this response. Three surgeons have said that the alignment looks fine. I know it must be fixed because I don't want to go on feeling miserable. In addition to the pain, the incision is still warm and not completely closed 15 months post surgery.

I am sorry you still have issues. Have you tried massaging the area? Massaging with oils helps a lot. You can use coconut, or vitamin E oil.
As for your revision surgery, when the Dr changed the plastic spacer to a thicker one, didn’t it cause that leg to become slightly longer than the other one? I have had bilateral TKR in the last year and a half and now one of my implants is loose. My surgeon also said that all he has to do is put a thicker spacer but I am concerned it will result in that leg becoming slightly longer and cause other posture issues. I appreciate your opinion.

Hi, so sorry that your implants became loose so quickly. And yes, when I had my first spacer replacement, it was pretty noticeable initially that one leg felt longer than the other, but it wasn't long before my body adjusted probably less than two weeks where I didn't notice it at all. And when I had the spacer replaced a few years later in my other knee I barely noticed any difference initially and nothing over the next few days. And yes, I've been trying a lot of things acupuncture dry needling Cortizone shots. Some other saline solutions. I just had a CT scan to try to figure out what's happening fingers crossed that the Doctor, an osteopath can help me resolve this because it seems the implants/hardware is fine so something going on with the soft tissue. It is on the outside so maybe continuing issue with the IT band but it's not used to my non-native knees.