Links

Over time, I have collected a number of links to various sites that I've found helpful or useful in researching knee and hip replacement, surgery in general, arthritis, and related conditions. I've also added Amazon and Google search boxes to help visitors find more information out on the web.

The fact that a site is listed here does not mean I endorse its information, products, or services. Always use your own judgment in evaluating information and ask your doctor before taking any medication or trying any new exercise or product.

• This first site is part of a larger network of sites based at Body1.com. Both the big site and the individual ones like Knee1.com have a lot of great information.

  
  
  

• On Our Feet - the Joint Replacement Forum is the free message board where you can post your questions or concerns and get answers from your peers.

• A great personal site and blog by a patient who had total hip replacement surgery is Sigrid's Recovery.

• Another TKR patient who had a good experience has posted his story on a blog.

• Total Knee Info is pretty much just what it sounds like! The site contains a lot of ads, but it also has a lot of links and resources and short, concise information on knee anatomy and knee surgery.

• Smith & Nephew, a company that makes artificial knees (among other things), has a new informational website on knee replacement with a lot of good information. One feature I like a lot is photos of a model demonstrating exercises like you will be given in rehab.

• eOrthopod maintains pages on a lot of orthopedic procedures and information, such as info on knee, ankle, hip and shoulder surgery. This link goes to their Adult Knee Patient Guides, which include PDF files on numerous knee conditions.

• The Totally Hip Home Page is a great page for people who have had or are thinking of having hip replacements. It was set up like this one by an actual patient and also has a Facebook support group.

• Here's another good site about total hip replacements.

• For something completely different, check out Breath & Shadow — an online journal of literature and disability culture.

Sites Related to Surgery in General

• Questions to Ask Your Doctor is an excellent article with various checklists compiled by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research. (The information is about surgery in general, not just TKRs.)

• Some additional sites with lots of information on surgical procedures include YourSurgery.Com, and the About.Com Orthopedics Site and Sports Medicine Site.

• Want to research a new doctor or find another HMO? Check out Healthgrades.com.

Sites Related to Arthritis

• If you have arthritis or one of the 100 related conditions, your first stop should be The Arthritis Foundation. The site has literally millions of pages of information and reference on this category of illness, great articles, information on drugs, message boards and community forums, an advocacy area where you can follow healthcare issues in Congress, and a whole new area on surgery.

• The local arthritis group in my area (South Louisiana), not affililated with the AF, is the Arthritis Association of Louisiana.

• If you have arthritis or a similar chronic or difficult to treat condition, you may want to check out an interesting new site called RemedyFind that allows patients to rate their personal experiences with various treatments.

• The website HealthTalk has a section devoted to rheumatoid arthritis. Its main unique aspect is live web-based broadcasts of doctors and other medical professionals talking or being interviewed about arthritis. You can also listen to archived recordings of these webcasts OR read printed transcripts a few weeks after they "air."

Sites Related to Pain Management

• The American Pain Foundation offers is an advocacy, support and lobbying group; offers a pain-information library; pain resources for military veterans; online chat rooms through PainAid message boards.

• The American Chronic Pain Association offers pain-management toolkits for professionals; consumer guide to options for managing pain; sponsors more than 400 support groups nationwide; mobilizing support for passage of pain legislation.

• The National Pain Foundation website gives information on pain-treatment options; an interactive survey of pain symptoms; a personal journal for tracking pain; and links to online support groups.

• The American Academy of Pain Medicine is a professional group offering consumer information on pain medication, pain-measurement scales, and a directory of pain-medicine specialists.

Unicompartmental Knee Replacement
Several people have made me aware of a procedure called unicompartmental knee replacement that can sometimes be done as an alternative to TKR. It is basically a sort of partial knee replacement that apparently can be done if not all of the knee is damaged. For more information, check out one or more of the following links:

• http://www.repicci.com/default.html
• Stone Foundation for Sports Medicine & Arthritis Research

Assistive Devices
All of the links below lead to websites selling accessibility products -- devices ranging from key grippers and easy-to-hold kitchen tools to walkers, wheelchairs, and bathtub lifts. This list was swiped from Abledata's Informed Consumer Guide for People with Arthritis, and I have NOT personally shopped at all of these sites. I highly recommend you spend some time at the Abledata site, but do it at a time when you can spare a while -- the amount of information there is almost overwhelming.

• Access Mobility Inc.
• Adaptive Mall (primarily for children and young adults)
• Comfort House online shopping
• Daily Living Products (this site is in Australia)
• Dynamic Living
• North Coast Medical (also offers a print catalog)
• SENIORSTORE
• The Boulevard - Assistive Devices for Daily Living