Osteotomy

An osteotomy is a surgical operation whereby a bone is cut to shorten, lengthen, or change its alignment. Osteotomy is one method to relieve pain in arthritis and may delay progression of arthritis, especially of the hip and knee.

Osteotomy of the knee

Knee osteotomy is commonly used to realign arthritic damage on one side of the knee. The goal is to shift the patient's body weight off the damaged area to the other side of the knee, where the cartilage is still healthy. Surgeons remove a wedge of the tibia from underneath the healthy side of the knee, which allows the tibia and femur to bend away from the damaged cartilage.