GLEN JACKSON'S CASE STUDY

Lateral Partial Knee Replacement

My Knee Surgery

Glen Jackson
Treated by: James Newman
Procedure: Lateral partial knee replacement

“Mr Newman? He’s a genius in my eyes.”

For Glen Jackson, the seeds of osteoarthritis were sown decades ago. “I used to play for Wakefield Trinity RLFC when I was a young lad, then I worked down the mine for 14 years and spent lots of my time knelt in water. Over the years you put up with the knee pain, but the in last two or three years it got worse and worse.”

Now retired from Jackson’s Coaches, the business he built over 30 years, Glen was looking forward to spending retirement with his wife, keeping active through plenty of low impact walking, cycling and the occasional more strenuous 10 mile hike. But as his osteoarthritis progressed, Glen found his plans put on hold.

“It got to the point where I couldn’t do a walk at all because I was in agony. Just turning over at night in bed it was so painful.”

Glen decided it was time to seek help. “My local doctor referred me to Spire Methley Park where I saw Mr Newman. When he looked at the scans of my knee he told me that basically I had no cartilage left – it was just bone to bone. He said I needed a knee replacement although he couldn’t be certain whether it would be a partial or total replacement until he got a look inside the knee.”

Pain free in seven days

Ultimately, Jim Newman determined a lateral uni-compartmental (partial) knee replacement would be appropriate. “I had an epidural in my spine and they gave me something else to relax me so I just drifted in and out during the operation,” explains Glen. “It all felt so smooth. I came to thinking ‘is that it’?

“Once I’d had the operation I was mobilising within 24 hours. At first I was just asked to walk to the toilet but by the next day I was walking on crutches up and down the corridor and the physio showed me how to go up and downstairs.

“Lots of people had told me how terrible the pain is after a knee replacement and I was in quite a bit of pain for the first 24 hours although the painkillers helped. But I would say I was pretty much pain free after seven days. It’s fantastic.”

“It’s gone absolutely perfectly”

“I’ve seen people who’ve had knee replacements and they’ve got huge gashes in the knee and they’ve taken months to recover but after six weeks you can hardly see my scar,” Glen adds enthusiastically. “In fact when the physio saw my scar she said, ‘Oh, that must be one of Mr Newman’s.’”

Six weeks after his partial knee replacement and following his first review with his knee consultant, how does Glen feel now?

“It’s gone absolutely perfectly. I’ve done exactly what they said – I’ve done every exercise they gave me and been to every appointment with the physio. Every time she’s seen me she’s said I’m making remarkable progress.

“After my second physio appointment I did ask if I could get back on my mountain bike but she said it was a bit too early for that so I’ve been swimming instead. I now do 60 lengths two or three times a week. I’m walking without crutches now too. To be fair I lost those after two or three weeks. And Mr Newman has just said I can start driving again.

“If I do a lot of exercise my knee will swell up a little bit and it still gets a little bit achy but I take a couple of painkillers and put an ice pack on and it’s fine.”

Faultless service

Glen will have another review at the six month post-op stage and an x-ray in 12 months just to check all’s well.

“I can’t fault the service from day one. From the nurses to the receptionists, from going in to coming back out and the aftercare – all of it was absolutely faultless. If my other knee went I wouldn’t hesitate to pay to have it done. And as for Mr Newman – he’s a genius in my eyes.”

DISCOVER MORE ABOUT PARTIAL KNEE REPLACEMENTS