There has been a rise in knee replacement surgeries in India, said Dr Bernard Stulberg, joint replacement surgeon from USA, during a symposium on Current Concepts in Cruciate Retaining Total Knee Arthroplasty. The symposium was organised by Saishree Hospital in association with Poona Orthopaedic Society.

A live surgery demonstration was also performed at the hospital by Dr Neeraj Adkar and Dr Stulberg.

"Joints pain and knee problems are common among Indians. At least 70 per cent of the problems are related to the knees and 20 to 30 per cent to hip problems. However, the exact opposite is true in European countries where there are more hip related problems," Stulberg said.

He added, "There are some new concepts which have been introduced in India such as slope of insert. It can improve the range of motion and allow the patient to reliably go about their daily activities safely." He added "When the pain is unbearable, patients should be willing to go for a knee replacement surgery."

The total number of knee replacements performed each year, both total and partial, rose 30 per cent from 2004 to 2008. In that same period, there was a 61 percent increase in these surgeries among men and women between the ages of 45 and 64.

Dr Stulberg added that in 2012 in India, 80, 000 knee replacements took place against the 50,000 in 2008. Dr N S Laud, Dr Parag Sancheti, Dr Hemant Wakankar, Dr Kiran T Kharat, Dr Neeraj Adkar, Dr Nikhil Likhate, and Dr Umesh Nagare were also present.