You are an active person, and some of your favorite activities involve things like walking, running, hiking and mountain climbing. You have always been in great shape, but now that you are over 40, you are starting to notice that doing all of the activities you love is getting a lot harder to do. Some mornings you wake up and you can barely move, and perhaps it is time that you did something about the pain you are feeling so you can get back to the great outdoors you love so much. Knee surgeons are the doctors that can help you with your knee problems and take care of them for you.
Knee Symptoms That Should Not Be Ignored
It is normal for people to have aches and pain once in a while, but there is a significant difference between doing something that 
causes pain over the weekend, and pain that does not seem to go away. People may have arthritis that has yet to be diagnosed by a doctor, and according to the CDC, one out of 2 people will be diagnosed with some form of knee arthritis by the time they reach the age of 85. There are symptoms of knee problems that knee surgeons can take care of, and people should not ignore or they will only cause more damage to their knees than what already exists:
• Knee pain that interferes with sleep: The biggest sign that people need knee replacement surgery is pain that keeps them awake or night or wakes them up in the middle of the night. For pain this severe, knee surgeons will want to replace the knee, and for people who are afraid of the post-operative pain, statistics show that the knee replacement surgery has a 90 percent success rate, and people report a lot less pain, and a return to full activity once they have healed and gone through their physical therapy requirements.
• A frozen knee: Some people have a condition called frozen knee in which sitting for too long results in them not being able to straighten their leg once they try and stand up. Stiffness of the knee is a sign of knee problems that may require the whole knee to be replaced because the joint is becoming frozen in place due to thickening tissue, or even scar tissue, and may not loosen without heat or some other form of medical intervention.
• Pain that does not go away even with treatment: When people have chronic pain, they try and treat it with things like over-the-counter medication, acupuncture, or even massages. Sometimes the pain does go away with treatments, but if it does not go away no matter what is tried, than it is time to seek out medical help.
Knee pain is common when people get older, but if the pain is bad enough that people can no longer be as active as they once 
were, or it keeps them from sleeping through the night, then it is time to do something about it. Knee surgeons specialize in knee problems, and they can treat the pain, and sometimes they may advise their patients that a total knee replacement is the only way to take care of their constant pain, and help them get back to their active lifestyles.
