What you can expect

During the procedure

You'll either be put to sleep (general anesthesia) or be numbed from the waist down (spinal anesthesia). Your surgeon will make an incision over the area of bone to be remodeled.

Depending on the location of the damage, the surgery might involve your shinbone or your thighbone. The most common form of knee osteotomy involves the shinbone.

In the simplest knee osteotomy, your surgeon cuts almost across the bone, opens a gap, fills it with bone graft and fixes the bone in place with a plate and screws. This is called an opening wedge osteotomy.

Another option is to cut the shinbone or thighbone, then remove a wedge of bone. The cut edges of the bone are brought together and held in place with metal hardware. This is called a closing wedge osteotomy.

The surgery typically takes one to two hours.

After the procedure

Depending on the complexity of the surgery and how well you recover, you'll go home the same day or stay one night in the hospital. You'll need to use crutches for approximately two months for your bone to heal properly.

Rehabilitation can take as long as six months. It will include exercises designed to:

• Strengthen your thigh muscles (quadriceps)
• Increase your knee's range of motion
• Improve your balance

Occasionally a brace is used to support the bone while it heals.