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A: You will probably have general anesthesia or spinal anesthesia. They are both equally safe and have the same recovery time.
With general anesthesia, you are sound asleep and can’t feel anything, and when you wake up you may not be fully mentally alert right away.
Spinal anesthesia allows lighter sedation. It interrupts brain messages so you don't feel pain. With spinal anesthesia, you may not be able to move your legs for about an hour afterwards.
There are medical and anatomic reasons for choosing one over the other. Your nurse anesthetist will discuss these options with you.
Another frequently used method of numbing surgery pain during knee replacement is blocking the femoral nerve. The femoral nerve sends messages to your brain that your knee hurts. The anesthetist places a catheter into the sheath that surrounds the nerve. The catheter then delivers medicine that numbs the surgery area. This can be kept in until the day after surgery and will decrease your pain.
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