7 Signs that you should seriously be considering a knee or hip replacement.

• You can’t sleep at night. You find yourself tossing and turning all night because your hip or knee hurts. You can’t find a comfortable position no matter how hard you try and how many pillows you use. You find yourself waking up in the middle of the night and noticing pain in the hip or knee or waking up because of the pain.
• You can’t walk long distances and that prevents you from enjoying your favorite activities. You can’t take long walks on the beach with your spouse on vacation. You can’t go to the amusement park with your kids or grandkids. You avoid going to the mall for Christmas or holiday shopping because it is too painful. You avoid going to see your favorite football or baseball team because you know you will have to walk far or take steps. You avoid playing golf because there is too much walking to the green even when you are in a golf cart. After the activity was over, you think this wasn’t worth the pain.
• People ask you what is wrong because your gait is abnormal with a limp.
• Stairs are the bane of your existence. You have to go up and down the stairs one stair at a time. You always take the elevator because stairs take you too long and are too painful. You minimize your trips to the second level of your house. You avoid anything that requires stairs like stadium seating in movie theaters, sporting events and musical theaters.
• You can’t concentrate on things you enjoy because you are constantly concentrating on your pain in your hip or knee. Your knee or hip pain starts to distract you from things that you love or enjoy. You start to become depressed, moody or irritable because you are in pain many times a day or most of the day.
• Tylenol or Advil stops working for the pain. You start to have stomach pain because you are using too much ibuprofen and you have to take antacids. You find yourself taking increasing doses of Tylenol or Advil just to dull the pain a bit.
• You have found a fellowship trained surgeon that specializes in hip and knee replacement surgery. Your surgeon has gone through extra training to learn all the nuances of hip and knee replacement surgery. This surgeon does many hip and knee replacements every year and can address the nuances to each surgery that makes every surgery and patient unique.