Your Solution for
Hip & Knee Arthritis
Hip and knee arthritis is one of the most common causes of pain and disability. My goal is to meet you where you are on the journey to health.
It is important to understand that we can likely improve your symptoms without surgery. Oftentimes this is simply making some lifestyle adjustments to optimize strength and balance.
Sometimes, medications and injections can improve painful swelling. Surgery is used as a last resort. Surgical success is related to your expectations and readiness beforehand. I am confident that together we can get you back on your feet doing the things you enjoy.
Your Path to Health
Schedule Appointment
During this stage, our office staff will work with you to pick a time and location to be seen. We will likely ask you to brink prior images and relevant office notes if you have had surgery in the past
Initial Consultation
During your appointment we will review old imaging and obtain new imaging of your joint and discuss your symptoms, perform an exam, and make a treatment plan.
The treatment plan varies, and may include referrals to outside specialists, additional imaging, and prescription medications.
We will establish a timeline for follow up appointments and clear expectations.
Second Appointment
This may be an in office visit or remote (televist) depending on where you live and your schedule. We will monitor your progress and modify the treatment plan. For some patients, this may involve a surgical discussion.
It is here that we will provide ample surgical information, which includes joint models, reference material including videos and frequently asked questions, and consultation with one of our surgery schedulers.
We will walk you through this process step by step. We understand what a critical event surgery is, and we take pride in making it easy to understand and minimizing stress on you and your family/friends.
Pre-Operative Visits & Labs
Your health and safety is our priority, and we need to make sure your health is optimized before surgery. This will involve visits with our internal medicine physicians and may require visits with your established doctors.
We will facilitate lab work and heart tests as needed. We also will ask that you clean yourself with certain solutions to minimize the risks post-operative complications.
Surgery
Depending on the surgery, this may be performed at a large hospital, a smaller specialty hospital, or an ambulatory surgery center. You will receive information from our clinic and the facility on where to go and when to be there.
I will meet you in the holding room before surgery, where you will also meet with the anesthesia team and operating room nursing team. They will start an intravenous line and begin fluids while you are awake.
We utilize various anesthesia modalities to minimize complications and optimize your function. This involves spinal anesthetics, regional pain blocks, and general anesthesia. The anesthesia and surgical team will discuss these with you and make a group decision regarding the best modality for you. We will communicate with your family and friends before, during, and after surgery on how the surgery is progressing.
After surgery, you will go to the recovery room, where they will give you medicine to control pain and any queasiness you might have from the surgery. If you are going home the same day, we will get you up with physical therapy and make sure you are safe on your feet and have the medical equipment you need to succeed at home. This oftentimes includes a walker to help with balance during the first few weeks at home. If you are spending the night we will transfer you to a private room for rest and recovery.
Post-operative course
Where you go after a hip or knee replacement is critical. We strongly urge you to plan on going home following surgery. It allows for better rest and decreased anxiety.
Plans need to be made ahead of time to ensure you have the people and supplies at home to succeed. We will work on this with you prior to scheduling surgery. Occasionally, you may need an alternative location post-operatively. Most commonly this would be an inpatient rehab facility to allow for intensive rehabilitation.
We will see you either in person or remotely two weeks after surgery to check on your incision and progress. We will typically see you again around 6 weeks after surgery to obtain imaging and continue monitoring progress.
After this point follow up visits depend on multiple factors. You will typically continue to make progress up to six months out from surgery. At this point I hope we are giving each other hugs and high fives on a job well done by YOU!