Patient Testimonials - Stephanie

Vienna – Knee & Hip Replacement

Biking, hiking, skiing, softball – you name it, Stephanie does it. And with gusto. The 55-year-old mother of two is a devoted cyclist, extreme mogul skier, passionate hiker, and softball enthusiast. Schedule permitting, she also squeezes in the odd game of tennis.

In her younger years, all this intense physical activity took its toll. “By the time I was 30, I had severe degenerative arthritis in my right knee. It was chronically swollen and bowed out; I’d worn it to a nub,” she says. “I knew I needed a knee replacement, but I was too young and the technology just wasn’t good enough. Plus, the idea of surgery was very intimidating.”

Instead, Stephanie endured a host of non-operative treatments to ease the pain including rehabilitation, anti-inflammatory drugs, and cortisone shots. Nothing worked. Then she learned that an exciting new implant would soon be available at Commonwealth Orthopaedics. Stephanie consulted joint surgeon David Romness, MD, who performed a knee replacement using this state-of-the-art technology. The procedure went smoothly, but revealed an additional problem. Stephanie’s left hip was bone on bone and she needed a hip replacement. Two years later, Dr. Romness performed that procedure as well.

Stephanie waited until both her replacements were complete before she became fully active again. Now there’s no stopping her. She’s hiked in Utah, cycled in California, and participated in the MOAB Century Tour – a 100-mile bike ride along the Colorado River to raise money for cancer survivorship programs. Every day she rides round trip the 39 miles between her home in Vienna to her office in Washington, DC. When she fell off her bike on the way to work last spring, she visited Dr. Romness to be sure she hadn’t damaged her hip. The prosthesis was perfectly intact.

“Dr. Romness was confident that this new implant technology would enable me to be active again, and he was right – I haven’t had any problems with my knee or my hip,” she says. “I can do all my sports, plus a lot of simple things that people take for granted, like walking around the mall on a shopping trip with my girls. I love my new joints! For the first time in 20 years, I am totally pain free.”