By Deborah Westergaard, MD | Pain Experts | Dallas–Plano The Problem: We’ve Normalized Joint Replacement as “Inevitable” For decades, society has treated joint replacement as a near-inevitable milestone of aging: a “rite of passage” that comes with turning 60 or 70. Knee and hip replacements are so common that many people assume they’re unavoidable. But when you step back and look at the full picture — the cost, the risk, and the lifestyle limitations — this mentality starts