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Knee surgery
From the first twinge on the stairs to a knee that no longer straightens, this section explains what is wearing out, what genuinely helps, and what modern knee surgery, robotic assistance included, can and cannot do.
Conditions + treatments
Common knee problems
Each guide follows the same honest format: what the condition is, what helps before surgery, what an operation involves, the real risks, and a week-by-week recovery timeline.
Knee osteoarthritis + total knee replacement
Pain on stairs, swelling after activity, a knee that loses its bend. When the joint surface is worn out, total knee replacement resurfaces it. Full guide with a week-by-week recovery.
Read the complete guide →Partial knee replacement + robotic assistance
When arthritis is confined to one compartment, only that part of the knee is replaced. I am fellowship-trained and MAKO certified in robotic-assisted total and partial knee replacement, used where it serves your result.
Guide coming soonPatellofemoral pain + kneecap injuries
Pain at the front of the knee with stairs, squatting and sitting. Most kneecap problems settle with the right strengthening program; surgery is reserved for instability and selected cases.
Guide coming soonKnee arthritis before surgery
Strengthening, activity changes, weight management, bracing and selected injections. For many knees this is the whole plan, and for the rest it is the right starting point.
Covered at your first visitRevision knee surgery
When a previous knee replacement becomes painful, loose, stiff or unstable, careful investigation comes before any decision to re-operate.
Guide coming soonKnee pain without a diagnosis yet
Swelling, locking, giving way or pain in one spot each point to different problems. An examination and the right imaging sort out which, before anything is decided.
Assessed at your first visitSigns it is worth an assessment
- Pain on stairs, or swelling after activity that keeps coming back
- A knee that is losing its bend or will not fully straighten
- Pain at night or at rest
- The knee giving way or locking
- A walking distance that keeps shrinking
- A previous knee replacement that has become painful, stiff or unstable
Before any operation
Strengthen first, operate when it is right
Many knees I see are best managed with the right combination of activity change, strengthening and time. When yours is one of them, you will hear that clearly.
Knee arthritis responds well to a properly structured strengthening program, weight management where it is relevant, simple anti-inflammatory medication and, in selected knees, an injection or an unloading brace. These are worth doing properly before surgery is considered, and they also make recovery easier if surgery does become the right step.
When the knee is still limiting your life after those measures, we talk honestly about partial or total knee replacement: what it involves, what the evidence says about results, and the real recovery.
What happens at your first visitHow I operate
My approach to knee replacement
Ask Dr Cooper
Knee questions answered
Short video answers to the knee questions patients actually ask. Each card becomes a playable answer with a transcript as it is completed.
Do I need a knee replacement?
Partial vs total knee replacement: which is right for me?
What is knee replacement recovery honestly like?
Not sure where you stand?
Get a straight answer about your knee
Whether the answer is "operate", "wait" or "strengthen first", you will leave with a plan. Seeing me does not commit you to surgery.