Robotic surgery gets half marathoner on the road again
Paula Daoust
At age 68, Paula Daoust is an avid runner. She’s run a total of 150 half marathons – each a distance of 13.1 miles – including one in every state. When she began to experience debilitating knee pain, Paula did everything she could to avoid having to hang up her running shoes for good.
“I couldn’t go for a walk or go shopping for more than 10 minutes without having to sit down due to the pain,” she said. “To be able to run, I’d have to tape my knee but I’d end up in a lot of pain afterward. The idea of not being able to run was too depressing, so I kept trying a variety of things.”
Paula coped with the pain for nearly five years until a friend made the suggestion to see an orthopedic physician. Hoping that she would be able to continue to run, she turned to LMH Health OrthoKansas for help.
Diagnosing the pain
Paula saw James Huston, MD, an orthopedic surgeon specializing in knee and hip replacement, to try and find relief. She had an arthroscopic surgery years before and the idea of having a knee replacement wasn’t an idea Paula wanted to entertain. She started by using anti-inflammatory medicines and multiple types of injections to relieve her pain.
When it didn’t improve following those interventions, she met with him again to discuss the pain she felt on the inside part of her knee. Huston suggested a different treatment - a partial knee replacement.
James Huston, MD
“X-rays showed that Paula had bone-on-bone arthritis on the inner (medial) aspect of her knee, with well-maintained joint spaces in the rest of the knee,” Huston said.
Because her pain was located on the inner part of the knee and imaging confirmed the arthritis was isolated, she was an excellent candidate for a partial knee replacement. In this surgery, a section of bone from one part of the knee joint is removed and replaced with an implant.
“When there’s arthritis and/or pain in other areas of the knee, a total knee replacement is typically a better surgical option,” Huston explained. “A partial replacement is less invasive, typically has a quicker recovery period and feels more like a natural knee because all of the knee ligaments are preserved.”
Robotic replacement
In June 2021, Huston performed Paula’s partial knee replacement using the MAKO robotic arm, an instrument used to perform partial and total knee replacements, as well as total hip replacements. LMH Health has two MAKO robots to serve patients – one at the Main Campus and the other at the West Campus. The robots, which were funded in part by donor support through the LMH Health Foundation, have been proven to facilitate a shorter hospital stay, typically less pain and quicker return to function.
“The MAKO system can be more precise than traditional surgical techniques,” Huston said. “The system allows us to create a personalized plan for each patient. The arm allows us to place the joint more precisely and cause less damage to soft tissues and surrounding structures, which can lead to less pain, less need for pain medication and quicker recovery times.”
Huston said that there would be some short-term pain following Paula’s knee replacement, but that would become less severe as time went on. Getting up from a seated position for three or four days after surgery was painful for her, but Paula said that pain disappeared pretty quickly. She ditched her pain medication within three days, opting for Tylenol, a cold therapy machine and relaxation exercises for the muscles in her legs.
“I used the walker for one day, progressed to crutches and then a cane. Within two weeks, I was walking on my own and driving a car,” she said.
After spending six weeks in physical therapy, Paula sometimes feels a bit of pressure in her knee but the pain is gone. She’s started getting back to her old form, running a race with her husband every weekend and competing in at least 10 half marathons since her surgery. She’s also beginning to reduce the time she needs to run those 13.1 miles, recently clocking in at 3:08 – about half an hour shy of her pre-surgical times.
“I’m so excited to be able to do what I love without the pain,” Paula said. “I can’t recommend OrthoKansas enough. It’s all been amazing, from the robotics to the people on staff. They understand and are supportive of people who want to stay active. It's the small details like having your meds available as you walk out the door because the pharmacy is there. The follow up calls, checking in with me - I felt that I was supported through the entire journey.”
