Greater mobility through knee joint denervation

Chronic knee pain has become increasingly common and often restricts everyday life to such a degree that patients seek every available treatment option. Unfortunately, neither conservative treatment nor surgery always provides relief, and the pain persists. Until recently, the only remaining option for chronic knee pain was a total knee replacement. For some time now, however, a successful procedure has been available to eliminate this often unbearable pain. Prof. A. Lee Dellon developed the innovative method of knee joint denervation at his Institute for Peripheral Nerve Surgery in Baltimore, USA, where it has achieved outstanding results.

This is a procedure that Prof. Dellon first developed in 1992, yet despite its remarkable success in the USA, only a handful of surgeons offer it in Germany. Knee joint denervation serves to eliminate or alleviate pain. The procedure has for many years been applied with great success by
Dr. Schuhmann
and his team, and has already freed many patients from unbearable pain. During this procedure, small pain-conducting nerves around the knee joint are identified and a segment of each is removed, preventing them from regenerating.

Find detailed information about the knee denervation procedure here.

Knee joint denervation is also suitable for older patients

Knee joint denervation (nerve ablation) is in principle suitable for all patients. Even for older patients for whom a major operation would carry too great a risk, knee denervation is a worthwhile procedure – particularly when they suffer from chronic knee pain and previous orthopaedic measures have not produced the desired results.

Whether the procedure is likely to be successful for a patient must first be assessed by means of a so-called test block of the affected knee nerves. The painful nerve exit points are located by palpation and then injected with a local anaesthetic. This temporarily blocks the function of the injected nerve, meaning the pain should disappear. By walking around and climbing stairs, the patient can determine whether and to what extent the pain is reduced. Only if the patient clearly rates this test as positive do we recommend proceeding with surgery. It must be emphasised once again that knee denervation does not represent a cure, but it does mean a dramatic reduction in pain.

Two days before the assessment, no pain medication should be taken, so that the actual effect of the local anaesthetic can be accurately determined. The painful knee should also not be treated with analgesic gels or creams (such as Voltaren or Diclofenac), as these too can influence the test result and prevent a realistic outcome from being achieved.

Following two successful outpatient test blocks, you will be given an appointment for the inpatient procedure. The hospital stay is usually two nights.

The low-risk, minimally invasive knee joint denervation procedure takes approximately 30–40 minutes during a short inpatient stay at our clinic. The Dellon knee joint denervation procedure is not a curative treatment, but it does achieve a dramatic reduction in pain. We have performed this treatment successfully on a very large number of patients.

The procedure is performed routinely by
Dr. Schuhmann
and can be carried out under local anaesthesia or general anaesthesia. Paralysis and sensory disturbances, often feared by patients, very rarely occur. On the contrary, mobility of the knee actually improves. Prior to knee denervation, the pain in the knee was so severe for many patients that proper movement was not possible. Skin sensation is also preserved in the vast majority of cases.