Page 13 - Inspire Health March/April 2017

When treating a patient with knee pain,
Dr. Banzhof goes through all the treatment
options for each case, including conservative
treatments that can include weight
management, physical therapy, lifestyle
modifications and medications.
If physical therapy is the treatment
option, physical therapist Monica Miller,
PT, DPT, SCS, evaluates the patient to
determine where the source of dysfunction
is and how best to treat it. A typical
treatment for a woman with hip and knee
pain may be exercises to strengthen their
hips and pelvic muscles.
“If they don’t have a lot of core and pelvic
stability, strength and muscle retraining
exercises, for the most part, can control a
majority of the pain and dysfunction these
patients have,” she says.
And if surgery is eventually needed, the
patient is stronger to go into surgery and
recovers quicker.
When surgery is a last resortjoint injury or osteoporosis
Adoesn’t mean an automatic surgery.
Dr. William De Long, chairman, Orthopedic
Surgery & Sports Medicine, St. Luke’s
University Health Network. Surgery is often
the last resort at St. Luke’s University Health
Network. “We go through all the noninvasive
measures (including medication, injections
and physical therapy),” he says. “We like to
use those until the disease process in the joint
stops responding to those things — then and
only then do we consider surgical options.”
The objective is to restore function in the
safest manner for the patient. De Long says
that since a body’s bones and joints can repair
themselves, replacing a joint with a manmade
one is a last resort.
Only after the nonsurgical options Dr. William De long Dr. Jennifer Banzhof Photo courtesy of St. Luke’s University Health Network
have been exhausted, do Banzhof and
the patient start to look at surgical monica miller, dpt
reconstruction of the knee.
“I try to be realistic with them, too,” she
says. “It’s a big procedure. You’ll know when
you’re ready.”
It takes about six weeks for most patients
to recover from knee reconstruction.
“They’re back doing things they want to
do and getting back to doing the things that
make them who they are,” she says.
De Long says there are some things
women can do to help protect their bones,
starting in their 30s, including monitoring
their skeletons and making sure they get
1,500 milligrams of calcium a day from
natural sources like milk, yogurt and leafy
green vegetables like kale.
Once a woman enters her menopause
years, she should get DEXA Scans to
measure bone density.
“I tell my patients, the best knee or hip
you’ll ever have is the one you were born
Quite on the contrary, says with,” he says. “We should try to keep that
as long as we can.”
The policy goes hand-in-hand with St.
Luke’s easy access to care initiative, too.
De Long says the orthopedic services
offers nontraditional office hours outside
of usual daytime hours to accommodate
patients’ busy schedules. Plus, each surgeon
has two appointments each day that have to
be left blank — to be filled that day.
“We make sure we service people
who come to our emergency rooms,” he
says. “We look at the records from the
emergency rooms each day and contact
everyone with a bone injury or fracture and
offer them an appointment.”
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