TUESDAY, May 23, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- If you're planning on having knee replacement surgery at some point in the future, it's a good idea to start talking to your doctor now about your options for controlling pain.

That's because new research found that when people had taken powerful opioid painkillers before knee replacement surgery, they had greater pain after the procedure.

Knee replacement is used to treat knee osteoarthritis. But patients spend an average of 13 years before surgery using non-surgical treatments such as physical therapy, injections and painkillers, the study authors noted.