Obese patients don't need to lose weight before total joint replacement, study finds
"Our data shows it's not necessary to ask patients to lose weight prior to surgery," said Wenjun Li, PhD, associate professor of medicine and lead author on the study. "It's challenging for a patient who is severely overweight and suffering in pain to exercise -- often they just can't do it. Our evidence showed that severe morbidly obese patients can benefit almost equally as normal weight patients in pain relief and gains in physical function." The aim of the study, published July 19 in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery , was to evaluate the extent of pain relief and functional improvement in total joint replacement patients with various levels of obesity. The researchers concluded that while obesity is associated with a greater risk of early complications, obesity in itself should not be a deterrent to undergoing total joint replacement to relieve symptoms. Prior research has documented that obesity is associated with a small, but increased...