Anecdotal, but I was going in for carpal tunnel work and ran into an older gentleman, probably early 70s, that had just gone through a knee replacement a week earlier. He was walking around on it and said he wasn't really in any pain.

I was amazed.

YMMV.

I have heard great things about knee replacements. Unfortunately, I’m relatively young (late 30s). If I were to get a replacement now, I’d likely need another one when I’m older. Additionally, I imagine getting an artificial knee replacement would make you no longer a candidate for lab-grown replacements. There is an option already where they can grow your cartilage in a lab, but it’s quite expensive, and my insurance will not cover it.

Just make sure you won't get one of those implants that cause metal toxicity / dementia:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00402-025-05869-x

In the summer my knees were so wrecked I could barely make it up and down the stairs. My GP first thought it was an inflammation and prescribed something for that, but when I went back after a couple of weeks he said the cartilage may have worn off and prescribed me Flexofytol. It may be placebo effect, but between taking it a bit easier, cycling more, and the flexofytol, my knees are the best they've been since I injured them in the first place.