“I had a lot of pain last summer. I came to Dr. Springer’s office and tried the 5 weeks of injections. I was just prolonging the inevitable,” says Marie Hagan.

She admits she was nervous when she learned she had to have a total knee replacement. “Five months later, I can say I have no pain whatsoever,” she says. “It’s a scary proposition to have your knee completely replaced,” admits Dr. Charles Springer, an orthopedic surgeon on the medical staff of Lee Memorial Health System.

He says more surgeons like him are looking at other alternative forms of treatment before considering surgery. “We do look into conservative measures whether it be injections, physical therapy; I believe Marie even had an arthroscopy of the knee in an attempt to avoid the replacement and unfortunately nothing else worked,” adds Dr. Springer.

Marie was also assigned a coach, her husband, John, to help her with therapy. The couple is also a part of the “Total Joint Program” at Lee Memorial Hospital. Participants gather several times a year to provide and receive support.

“Nobody can tell you about the pain. You know its going to be painful, there’s no way around it. But they do their best to minimize it and do their best to help you understand it,” says John Hagan. Marie agrees, “its great. Everybody gives their feedback and you find out if people are on the same page as you are and you don’t feel so bad.”

Dr. Springer says the success rate for knee replacements is over 90 percent. Recovery time depends on the patient, their motivation, and their pain tolerance.