Former Pro Athlete Dissatisfied with Zimmer NexGen Knee

Los Angeles, CA“Hell, my Zimmer NexGen knee should have been recalled,” says Ed with a laugh. “I have to laugh to keep from crying because I am so dissatisfied.”

Ed, age 60 and a former pro athlete, is baffled: why did his 80-year-old mother have a faster recovery rate with her hip replacement than Ed did with his knee replacement? “I couldn’t understand why my Mom healed better than me,” Ed says.

Ed had been diagnosed with degenerative arthritis in both knees and his orthopedic surgeon recommended that he have both knees replaced. “I decided to do the left knee first then see how it goes,” Ed explains. He had bone on bone, there was no cartilage left, from so many years playing basketball and football. Being a former athlete he vigorously went into physical therapy (and switched his game to golf) but after four months he wasn’t making any progress.

“I went back to my surgeon because I wasn’t getting much flexibility and range of motion was negligible; he told me it was due to a build-up of scar tissue,” Ed says. “But where did all this scar tissue come from?

"This past April I had arthroscopic surgery??"my surgeon cleaned up the scar tissue. Once again I went back to therapy: I was going three times a week and in addition I was riding my stationary bike at home every day. But the swelling wasn’t going down and I had a lot of difficulty getting up and down stairs. I didn’t have constant pain anymore so the second surgery did help somewhat but I had extreme stiffness in the morning and after long walks. I was beginning to think I had the worst knee replacement ever.”

Ed went back to the orthopedic surgeon. He had more x-rays and his surgeon advised a third surgery. “At this point I got second and third opinions and that is where I’m at now,” he says.

“I have no more extension or flexibility than I did prior to the initial surgery. Now I have this piece of metal acting as a knee and it isn’t working at all. My surgeon says maybe I need a thinner part. I went into this surgery because I was told that surgeons had supposedly almost perfected this operation. I would be pain free and able to walk and play golf. I accept that my pro days are over but I was looking forward to the next few decades with mobility, flexibility and lack of pain. And right now I don’t have that.

"Probably four months into rehab after my first surgery I saw an ad on TV about the Zimmer knee recall. It felt like I had seen a ghost??"do I have a defective part in my body? Next up I found a group of lawyers online doing litigation against Zimmer recalls. I knew that I had a Zimmer NexGen so I called Zimmer and gave them the model number of my knee replacement but it hadn’t been recalled. So where does that leave me?

"When something like this happens you are afraid and outraged; you go through the whole realm of different emotions. My doctor is a great guy; I see his ratings online and he has no one complaining about him. I talk to people in his waiting room and they have nothing but accolades. I just think the NexGen knee he used is defective. And then I saw a billboard about DePuy hip and knee recalls. Is there anything on the market that works? I’m just going to try to enjoy the holiday and likely look into a NexGen lawsuit in the New Year.”