Knee Pain No More

John Burgess lived with knee pain for 20 years before undergoing knee replacement surgery with Dr. LaButti.

John Burgess is back to his bike after a successful knee ­replacement operation by Dr. LaButti.

John Burgess of Tulsa underwent knee replacement surgery with Dr. Ronald LaButti in 2011 after over two decades of knee problems.

    “I was very active in high school sports,” Burgess says. “I graduated from high school in 1967 and went into the military, where there was a lot of intense training, and I stayed active in intramural sports. I didn’t have any knee problems then. After my military years, I played a lot of sports until I began to develop knee problems in the late 1980s.”

    Since then, Burgess has undergone two arthroscopic ­surgeries on each knee. “It seemed like every five years or so, I’d have to have one or the other operated on. I finally quit playing sports around 1995 because of the knee problems.”

    In 2007, Burgess was informed he would probably not be able to have another arthroscopic surgery on his right knee, and would most likely have to have it replaced. “My knee pain was getting so severe that walking was becoming very difficult, and running was completely out of the question. I had tried all the over-the-counter medications I could find, but things continually worsened.”

    In 2011, Burgess went to see Dr. LaButti. “My supervisor had just undergone hip replacement surgery, and he was very pleased with his results. He recommended Dr. LaButti to me.”

    Dr. LaButti recommended knee replacement, and Burgess had the surgery done on his right knee. “By then, I was in constant pain. Walking was very difficult, and I had developed a severe limp. Sleeping had become an on-again, off-again experience every day. I was to the point where I would either have to have the surgery or retire – and I’m too young to retire.”

    Burgess’s surgery went well, he says. “The nurses and therapists at the hospital had me up and walking with a walker the day of the surgery. After a couple days in the hospital, I was released, and then I had home therapy for a week. Aside from the swelling in my knee, I never really experienced any pain from the surgery.”

    Burgess was on the walker for two weeks, then a cane for two more. “After four weeks, I was walking without the cane,” Burgess says. “After five, I was driving my car and riding my motorcycle. After six, I was dancing.” After seven, Dr. LaButti released him to work without restriction. “At week seven, when I began outpatient rehabilitation, I was told that I would need at least 115 degrees of movement before I could stop. On my first day, I had 130.” And, Burgess says, he is now free of limitations.

    But, he adds, he wishes he hadn’t waited. “I waited because I didn’t want to go through it more than once and I had been told that the replacement knee would only last 10 or 15 years. But I wish I hadn’t, because the surgery was no problem. Once the swelling went down, I was able to get back to normal; everything else was just walking and exercise. I’ve had no problems with the new knee, and would readily recommend knee replacement by Dr. LaButti to anyone needing the procedure.”

    For more information on Dr. LaButti or knee or hip replacement surgery, visit www.hipandkneedoc.com.

For more information, contact

Dr. Ronald S. LaButti

www.hipandkneedoc.com