Giant Steps After Joint Replacements

Reported February 2011

PHOENIX, AZ (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Every year more than 700 thousand people in the U.S. undergo joint replacement surgery, to give new life to their hips or knees, and those numbers are growing. Studies have shown after total joint replacement, the sooner you can get patients up and moving, the better their chances of a full functional recovery. A new device is getting these patients back on their feet faster, with less fear of falling.

Tom Hintze is taking his first steps with a brand new knee, and a new kind of support system designed by orthopedic surgeons to take the worry out of walking.

“I can afford to put pressure on it and still feel confident,” Tom Hintze, knee replacemt patient, told Ivanhoe.

The system, called Secure Track, lets patients stand straight and walk on their own just hours after surgery instead of a walker or therapist holding them up. A brace linked to an overhead track keeps them upright, and keeps them from falling. Studies show this extra support helps speeds recovery.

"Patients walk almost twice as far, they walk more quickly with a much more normal gait,” Dave Jacofsky, M.D., and orthopedic surgeon at The CORE Institute, explained.

“I think it probably helped my rehab 100 percent, I was able to go really fast, not many problems,” Roxanne Grona, a knee replacement patient, said.

Roxanne Grona went through rehab with the new device after her knee surgery eleven months ago. Now, she’s back on her feet, and on the green, feeling 65 years young.

Banner Del Webb Medical in Arizona is the first facility in the country to get the Secure Track device. Several other hospitals plan to add it to their rehab program in the months ahead. Researchers say that in the future they see this device becoming a part of rehab not just for joint replacement patients, but also for those recovering from stroke and other debilitating illnesses. Especially for elderly joint replacement patients, falls during rehab can be one of the most significant obstacles to a full recovery.

The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

Erica Brinker
Media Relations
The CORE Institute
(412) 715-3652
Erica.brinker@thecoreinstitute.com

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