10 procedures
Treatments
Listed the way the decisions are actually made: keyhole surgery and joint preservation first, replacement only where that is genuinely the better operation. Each page tells you who it suits, who it does not, and exactly what recovery looks like.
4 procedures
Knee
ACL Reconstruction
Rebuilding the torn ligament in the centre of your knee so it stops giving way, using a graft passed through two small incisions.
- Hospital stay
- One night
- Desk work
- 2–3 weeks
- Driving
- 4–6 weeks
Knee Arthroscopy & Meniscus Repair
Keyhole surgery to see inside the knee and repair what is torn — most often a meniscus — through two incisions about a centimetre across.
- Hospital stay
- Day case, or one night
- Desk work
- 3–7 days after a trim; 2–3 weeks after a repair
- Driving
- 1–2 weeks after a trim; 6 weeks after a repair
Knee Preservation & Osteotomy
Realigning the leg to shift your weight off the worn half of the knee — so a younger patient can keep their own joint instead of replacing it.
- Hospital stay
- Two to three nights
- Crutches
- 6–8 weeks
- Desk work
- 3–4 weeks
Knee Replacement
Resurfacing the worn ends of the joint with metal and plastic, for a knee where arthritis has taken away your walking and your sleep.
- Hospital stay
- Two to three nights
- Driving
- 4–6 weeks
3 procedures
Shoulder
Shoulder Arthroscopy & Rotator Cuff Repair
Reattaching the torn tendon on top of your shoulder to the bone with anchors, through three small keyhole incisions.
- Hospital stay
- Day case, or one night
- Sling
- 4–6 weeks
- Desk work
- 1–2 weeks
Shoulder Stabilisation & Latarjet
Stopping a shoulder that keeps dislocating — by repairing the torn socket rim, or by rebuilding the socket with a block of your own bone.
- Hospital stay
- Day case, or one night
- Sling
- 3–4 weeks
- Desk work
- 1–2 weeks
Shoulder Replacement
Resurfacing a worn or collapsed shoulder joint — including the reverse design, which works even when the rotator cuff cannot be repaired.
- Hospital stay
- Two nights
- Sling
- 3–4 weeks
- Desk work
- 2–3 weeks
2 procedures
Hip
Hip Arthroscopy
Keyhole surgery for the groin pain of a pinching hip — reshaping the bone that is catching and repairing the torn cartilage rim.
- Hospital stay
- One night
- Crutches
- 2–4 weeks
- Desk work
- 2–3 weeks
Hip Replacement
Replacing a worn hip with a new ball and socket — the most reliably transformative operation in orthopaedics.
- Hospital stay
- Two to three nights
- Driving
- 4–6 weeks
Worth saying plainly
Most of the people who read these pages will not need an operation.
A large share of knee, shoulder and hip pain settles with the right rehabilitation, load management and — occasionally — an injection. These pages exist so that if surgery is the answer for you, you understand it properly. If it is not, you should leave with a plan rather than a procedure.
Bring your scans. Get a straight answer.
A consultation means your imaging on the screen, a plain explanation of what is actually wrong, and an honest opinion on whether you need surgery — including when the answer is no.