Can you explain some of the benefits of this procedure?
One of the biggest benefits of having the procedure done this way is that healthy active people, with painfully worn or arthritic knees which are otherwise structurally sound, can essentially get new durable surfaces in the knee without affecting the structure, and do so without the usual cutting of the muscles and tendon, as is done routinely with a traditional knee replacement. Instead, by approaching the knee from the side under and around the soft tissues, we can perform the knee equivalent putting a crown on a structurally good tooth, instead of replacing the whole structure. You get the new surfaces you need, but keep what’s good without doing collateral damage to your underlying structure, bone, muscles, tendons, ligaments, and kneecap. What is still good about your knee remains good, and what is bad get renewed. Designed specifically for healthier, active individuals, the procedure allows highly motivated people a more active, functional recovery and quicker return to almost everything. Since the Southern Approach does not cut any muscles or tendons, there is also no danger of pulling something apart after surgery, or even a need to wait for it to heal before using it. You can start moving and using it right away and progress at the pace your fitness and comfort allows. What is more, we have developed anesthetic techniques that utilize nerve blocks, using local and regional anesthesia, rather than general. In the vast majority of cases, our patients quietly snooze through the procedure with some sedation, but with no breathing machine or tube down the throat. You’ll be back awake and comfortably up walking within just an hour or two of the procedure and then shortly after, head on home. No hospitals, overnight hospital stays, or exposure to hospitalized patients and staff. The Southern Approach Knee replacement procedure is performed with extremely high precision, in a “digital OR” designed specifically for it, which features multiple computers, including very large scale mounted monitors which the surgery team uses for visualization, stereoscopic infrared digital cameras, femoral and tibial specific optical tracking arrays, and a networked, sterile field 3D virtual reality computer workstation for the surgeon. By digitally mapping and modeling the knee, and entire leg as part of the procedure, with real time tracking and verification, all size, position and alignment parameters are customized and effected in real time based on each patients individual ligament length, balance and bone anatomy, with very high precision — more accurately and less invasively than in a traditional replacement procedure. Better, less invasive, more precisely sized and aligned, preserving normal structures, put in from the side without cutting any muscle or tendon, and a faster recovery — it is truly a game changer, ushering in a new era in knee replacement.