This Guy Did Not Pick Zimmer

Chicago, ILSee the guy balancing on the basketball? He's had two knee replacements, as you can see. His left knee was done two years before this video was made, whereas his right knee was done about ninety days before the cameras rolled, by his own admission. We're not going to tell you what kind of knee replacement he chose. But we can tell you it's not Zimmer Knee Replacement.


With the aging baby boomers, there is going to be a wave of hip and knee replacements. Why? Demographics, for one. The Boomer Wave is retiring. Then there's arthritis. That's nothing new. Weight gain and prematurely wearing out the knee have and always will be a factor. But then there is the active lifestyle that the Boomer generation typifies. And while joints may have been spared excess weight through constant exercise, that same exercise—constant running, jogging, hitting the treadmill—can take its toll on joints as well.

But Boomers won't want to stop. They'll want those troublesome knees replaced so they can keep active and trim, like this guy.

Again, let us tell you that this guy did NOT get the Zimmer NexGen Knee Replacement. The latter is a device that appears to be not living up to the expected lifespan of about 15 years for a successful knee replacement. That's 15 years of optimum movement. Maybe not balancing on a basketball like this fella. But you want to at least be able to do your gardening and negotiate the stairs, and chase after your grandkids.

In September, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) triggered a recall of the Zimmer NexGen complete knee solution MIS total knee procedure. Now the Zimmer NexGen CR-Flex system is having problems with reports of loosening of the NexGen CR devices in 36 percent of cases, with about nine percent requiring revision surgery within two years.

It's been two years since Mr. Pain Free Knees here got his left knee done with anything but a Zimmer NexGen knee, and you don't see any loosening there. Many Zimmer knee clients might be hard-pressed to pick up a basketball, let alone stand on one. With one recall already last fall, health advocates wonder if we will see another Zimmer knee replacement recall in the near future—together with lawsuits that may follow.