Orthopaedics
Joint pain is a debilitating and often chronic condition, but with the right treatment, it can be managed. Mediclinic’s Care Expert makes surgical treatment options more accessible than ever.
The Arthritis Foundation of South Africa estimates that half of South Africans could be living with arthritis and are unaware of their status. But fortunately, the treatment and care of arthritis has advanced tremendously in the past few decades. And it’s getting better all the time, says Dr Hennie Bosch, an orthopaedic surgeon at Mediclinic Durbanville.
Just a few years ago, arthroplasty – reconstruction or replacement of a joint through surgery – required a lengthy period of recovery and, in many cases, time in a step-down facility before the patient could return to their normal life and activities. Now, a combination of improved technology, better pain management and new medication has significantly shortened post-surgery recovery times. Dr Bosch says he’s even had some patients forget which hip was replaced. “I saw a former patient walking out of a spinning class at the gym, and even to my eye, I couldn’t tell what side had been operated on. I asked her; she had to stand still and think about it.”
This progress is made possible by advances in both prosthetic design and surgical practice. In the past, explains Dr Bosch, a joint would be replaced and then left untouched until it reached the end of its lifespan, typically around 15 years later. Today’s prostheses are far more durable and modular, allowing specialists to adjust or replace individual components if needed. It’s similar to servicing a car by addressing specific parts rather than replacing the entire vehicle – although, as Dr Bosch notes, the human body is far more complex than even the most sophisticated machine.
That growing complexity is now matched by equally advanced technology, world-class clinical expertise, and more coordinated models of care. One example is Mediclinic’s Care Expert programme, a value-based approach that brings every aspect of orthopaedic surgical treatment into a single, well-coordinated pathway. Care Expert is an integrated hip and knee replacement surgical product designed to deliver three key elements:
- financial certainty
- quality care
- an enhanced patient experience
Together, these elements support better outcomes while making the surgical journey clearer, more predictable, and more patient-centred.
Dr Bosch hails Care Expert and similar programmes as a great help in allowing doctors like himself to plan and conduct surgery, as well as managing patients’ expectations and their post-surgical journeys. Today, a patient can expect less pain and less bleeding. As surgical drains are no longer as necessary, less swelling occurs, and inflammation is reduced.
“The whole care package has improved,” says Dr Bosch. “Where before you might stay in hospital for a few days or a week, now, patients – particularly those with fewer comorbidities – will stay overnight to be monitored and can go home the next day. “Many of my patients are already standing up on the night after a daytime surgery; I just saw a patient who, a few hours after surgery, had already walked to the nurses’ station and back.”