Joint care

The joints in your body are made of bones, cartilage and other tissues that work together to allow the joint to move smoothly and easily. When any part of a joint becomes damaged, such as by aging, disease or injury, moving your joint can become painful. This is because all components of your joint must be healthy for you to move pain-free.

Joint pain can make it increasingly difficult to get things done and enjoy activities with family and friends. Often caused by osteoarthritis and other degenerative chronic conditions, joint pain often gets worse over time. As it worsens, everyday movements—such as standing up, bending and walking—can become extremely difficult.

Through our orthopedic care program, our doctors provide care for all types of joint pain, from shoulder to sacroiliac (spine) pain. These joint care specialists understand how much of an impact healthy joints have on your life. This is why they are dedicated to helping you resolve your pain. Our doctors will work with you to accurately diagnose the cause of your pain so we can suggest an effective treatment.

We offer a variety of joint pain treatments, and we personalize your treatment plan to your unique needs and conditions. Our specialists will use noninvasive techniques to resolve your pain, such as medications or therapies, before suggesting a procedure or surgery.

If you experience extreme pain and limited mobility, and nonsurgical treatment options have not helped, talk with your doctor about joint replacement surgery. This involves replacing the damaged parts of your joint with artificial components, called prostheses. The prosthetic joint functions like a healthy joint, gliding and moving without friction or pain.

Depending on the condition of your joint (and which joint is damaged), your joint specialist may suggest a partial or total joint replacement:

• Partial joint replacement—This procedure is performed when not all of the joint components have damage. Only the damaged area or areas are replaced with prostheses.
• Total joint replacement—A total joint replacement is performed when there is damage to all parts of the joint, requiring the whole joint to be replaced.

Ankle replacement

We provide comprehensive foot and ankle care—including ankle replacement surgery. During the ankle replacement, your surgeon replaces the ankle joint with a prosthesis, which allows you to walk and move around without pain.

Hip replacement

Our joint replacement surgeons offer partial and total hip replacements to treat hip pain. We also use the minimally invasive anterior approach to hip replacement when possible. With this approach, our surgeons create an incision on the front of the hip (instead of the backside of the hip). This allows them to more easily access the hip joint, sparing healthy tissues, which allows for a quicker recovery.

Knee replacement

Sometimes, a knee replacement surgery may be the best treatment to resolve knee pain. Our joint replacement surgeons offer both partial and total knee replacements.

Shoulder replacement

There are many causes of shoulder pain, including overuse, a pulled muscle or a torn rotator cuff. However, when shoulder pain is the result of a damaged shoulder joint, a shoulder replacement surgery may be necessary. We offer partial and total shoulder replacements.

We are proud to offer robot-assisted surgery for knee replacements. This is an innovative solution for patients with painful degeneration of knee joints. Using this technology, our specially trained joint replacement surgeons can help reduce your pain and return you to the lifestyle you love — faster.

How robotic knee replacement works

Below is an overview of the robotic joint replacement process:

• You undergo a special computed tomography (CT) scan.
• Our surgeons use the CT scan image and the robotic system’s 3D modeling capabilities to precisely customize the surgical plan before you arrive for surgery.
• During the procedure, the surgeon combines their surgical expertise with the robotic-arm technology to precisely place and align the joint replacement.
• Using this innovative surgery system, our surgeons can more accurately replace only the damaged areas of knee joints, preserving healthy bone and tissue.

Benefits of robotic joint replacement

What sets robotic knee replacement apart from traditional joint replacement is its minimally invasive approach. The robotic-arm enables the smallest incision possible, which can decrease your hospital stay and recovery time.

Other benefits include:

• Minimized trauma to healthy bone and tissue
• More accurate placement and alignment of knee replacements, resulting in a more natural-feeling joint
• Quicker return to normal daily activities after surgery
• Decreased risk of joint dislocation over time

Your joint care specialist may prescribe physical therapy as a noninvasive treatment to resolve joint pain or as rehabilitation after a joint surgery. Our therapy experts will work with you and your doctor to create a personalized therapy regimen to help you heal.