New Solutions for Knee Pain

Nov.7, 2006— -- In her college days, Jodi Lom was what many would describe as a natural athlete -- a life-long lover of sports who attended the University of California at Santa Barbara on a full-ride basketball scholarship.

At age 35, she walked with a limp and needed to use her arms to get in and out of a chair.

"I was in pain all the time," Lom says. "I couldn't even play with my kids anymore the way I wanted to."

Lom's experience may sound familiar to millions of aging Americans who feel the pain of their former athleticism. Over time, years of cumulative wear and tear take a toll on the knees, breaking down cartilage and depleting its shock-absorbing capabilities.

For Lom, the breaking point came after multiple surgeries yielded little improvement.

"At the time that I was trying to recover from the fourth knee surgery, it was right about the time I needed to teach my kids to ride bikes, so I couldn't even chase them down the bike path and hang on to their seat to hold them up so they wouldn't fall down," she says.

"That was the catalyst, really, to saying to myself that I need to get out there, go to as many doctors as I can, and find out what I can do to make myself better," she says.

In recent years, a host of new procedures have emerged to help knee-pain sufferers like Lom.

Today patients can opt for a tried-and-true artificial knee replacement, or they can choose a biologic replacement -- one that uses human tissues, some of which come from the patient's own body, to restore smooth, pain-free movement to the knee.

Other additions to the field, including a female-specific artificial knee and a synthetic lubricant that can be injected into the knee joint, further augment orthopedic surgeons' repertoires.

Lom chose to go with a biologic knee replacement, an option that Dr. Kevin Stone at the Stone Clinic in San Francisco said provides a natural-feeling result.

"That tissue becomes your own tissue, so there is nothing to come loose; there is no artificial material," said Stone, who innovated the biologic knee replacement. "The knee feels more normal, and you can run and play impact sports on it."