Persistent pain after knee replacement
Still in pain after your knee replacement?
You did everything right — and you're still hurting. You're not imagining it, and you're far from alone: roughly 1 in 5 people have ongoing pain after a total knee replacement — a statistic almost nobody is given before surgery. Embolization may help calm that pain without another operation.
Up to ~20% of knee-replacement patients have persistent pain afterward.
The part nobody warned you about
You were never told this could happen.
Before surgery, the conversation is about recovery timelines and getting back to your life. What almost nobody hears is the actual statistic: roughly 1 in 5 people still have significant pain after a total knee replacement. It's one of the best-documented outcomes in orthopedics — and one of the least discussed before you sign the consent form.
So when it happens to you, it feels like a personal failure. It isn't. It's a known outcome that you were simply never given the numbers on.
“The X-ray looks textbook.”
Your imaging is clean, the implant is perfectly positioned, and the surgery was technically excellent. All of that can be true and you can still be in pain — because the pain isn't coming from the hardware.
“Let's try a manipulation. Or a revision.”
Manipulation under anesthesia, or opening the knee back up for a revision — a major operation with a longer, harder recovery than the first one, and no guarantee the pain goes away.
“There's nothing more I can do.”
The hardest one to hear. Often it means there's nothing more surgery can do — which is not the same as nothing at all.
A textbook X-ray doesn't rule out pain — it rules out a mechanical cause. What it can't show is inflamed tissue. And inflammation is treatable without another operation.
Why does it still hurt?
A successful surgery can still leave you with pain — and here's a common, under-recognized reason. After a knee replacement, the way your new knee tracks and moves can change slightly. That can cause the joint lining (the synovium) to get caught and pinched with nearly every step.
Pinched over and over, that lining becomes swollen, inflamed, and painful — even when your X-rays and implant look perfectly fine. Because this pain comes from the inflamed lining, not the hardware, embolization can calm it directly — without revision surgery, a major operation with a long, difficult recovery.
- ⚠Pain, swelling, or warmth months or years after replacement
- ⚠Your surgeon says the implant looks good — but it still hurts
- ⚠You've been told to "wait it out" or consider revision surgery
A non-surgical option first
Embolization for persistent post-replacement pain is the same gentle, outpatient approach used for arthritis: a thin catheter, microscopic particles, and no cutting. It's designed to reduce the inflammation causing your pain and help you avoid — or delay — another operation.
We accept Medicare and most commercial insurance, and we verify your specific benefits before anything is scheduled.
You may have an option besides revision surgery.
Find out in 2 minutes whether embolization could help your post-replacement pain.
See if I'm a candidate