About

The knee is made up of three joints making it a complex set-up and one which is particularly vulnerable to pain and damage.  The knee takes on the full weight of your body every day and therefore the elderly and people who are overweight are more likely to experience issues with their knees.

Knee surgeons specialise in dealing with knee pain and movement problems either as a result of wear and tear, overuse or acute injury.

Common Applications

Most people experience knee pain at some time, largely as a result of either overusing the knee or injuring it through sports.  Activities that involve a lot of turning, such as football and netball, put people at increased risk of knee problems.

Common causes of knee pain include:

• Sprains and strains
• Torn ligaments or tendons
• Menisci or cartilage damage
• Anterior knee problems (leading to pain around the kneecap)
• Osteoarthritis
• Septic arthritis (infected knee joint)
• Tendonitis
• Bursitis (housemaid’s knee)
• Osgood-Schlatter’s disease
• Bleeding into the joint
• Gout
• Osteonecrosis

Treatment options

You should always seek the advice of a professional if your knee feels at all unstable, you have swelling in the knee, are unable to fully extend it, notice a deformity in your knee or leg or you suffer with redness, pain and swelling around the area.

An initial course of treatment is likely to include physiotherapy or steroid injections to help reduce the pain and improve mobility.  If this is unsuccessful, your consultant will discuss surgical options with you and, where possible, the procedure will be minimally invasive.  Common surgery could include:

• Knee arthroscopy
• ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) reconstruction
• Torn cartilage repair

Specialists

Mr Richard Hartley

Mr Richard Hartley graduated from Nottingham Medical School and was appointed as a lecturer in human anatomy for a year at Nottingham University.

Richard has a sub-specialist interest in knee surgery and undertook his Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons (Edinburgh) at Wrightington Hospital.

Richard specialises in all aspects of knee surgery.

Mr Rupert Clifton

Mr Rupert Clifton is a consultant orthopaedic and trauma surgeon after qualifying at Leeds University in 2000.  He became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 2003.

Rupert sub-specialises in knee surgery and undertook a fellowship at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh in 2009 and the Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital in 2008.

In 2009, Rupert was appointed a locum consultant in orthopaedic and trauma surgery at Addenbrookes Hospital before moving to Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in June 2010.  He continues to practice here as a substantive consultant in orthopaedic and trauma surgery.

Mr Araz Massraf

Mr Araz Massraf qualified in 1988 and, after specialist orthopaedic training, he became an orthopaedic consultant in Peterborough in 2004.

He specialises in minimally invasive surgery of the hip and knee, hip impingement decompression and labral repair, hip and knee keyhole surgeries and hip and knee revision arthroplasty.

Mr Tejinder Bhullar

Mr Tejinder Bhullar has been a consultant in orthopaedic surgery since 1995 and sub-specialises in knee and shoulder surgery, sports injuries and arthroscopic surgery.

Although Tejinder carries out all procedures to the knee and shoulder, he specialises in arthroscopic surgery related to meniscus and articular cartilage.