Hip and Knee replacements are among the most common orthopaedic procedures done to help with arthritic pain.  While joint replacement surgery had been associated with the elderly as a “last resort” for pain; today, patients are younger, more physically demanding and want an early return to function.

The Hip and Knee program at Humber River Health is one of the largest in Canada, providing access to a variety of techniques and approaches, including leading-edge computer navigation for knee arthroplasty with the ROSA robot.  At Humber, both primary and revision surgeries are performed of the hip and knee.  The vast majority of these are done using the use of local nerve blocks and spinal anaesthesia, allowing patients to mobilize with minimal pain and be discharged home the same day.  Once patients leave the hospital, post-operative pain management is maintained by a home-based infusion as supervised by your anesthetist and surgeon through the Same Day Knee Program (SKiP).

The SKiP uses a safe and effective home-based nerve block system to block the pain signals from the knee to the brain. A local anesthetic pumps out of a portable bottle at a slow rate on its own, and flows through a catheter into the thigh for 3 days. Patients are able to return home the same day as their surgery with minimal pain and decreased opioid use, allowing them to recovery comfortably at home.

Patients on the SKiP receive thorough education before and after surgery on managing the nerve block, and an anesthesiologist will call the patient every day to make sure the bottle is working properly and is managing the pain.

Learn more about the SKiP program here.

Speak to your surgeon to see if you are a candidate for the program.

Please see pamphlet below on how to manage the nerve block at home.

Managing Your Nerve Block After Same Day Knee Surgery

List of procedures:

• Total Hip Replacement
• Anterior Hip Replacement
• Total Knee Replacement
• Partial Knee Replacement
• Robot-Assisted Knee Replacement
• Unicondylar Knee Replacement
• Revision Hip Replacement
• Revision Knee Replacement
• Fixation and Revision of Peri-Prosthetic fracture