Covenant Heartbeat : New Technology At Covenant in Partial Knee Replacements

Monica Yantosh

9 years ago

There’s new technology at Covenant Health helping with partial knee replacements using MAKOPlasty.

“What’s different about this device is we can change the plan on the fly, we can make adjustments in the ligament balancing and really perfect the placement of the implants during the surgery,” Dr. David Shepard said.

Dr. Shephard performs the surgery in Lubbock using MAKOplasty.

“There are some other platforms out there that allow for partial navigation of knee replacement, but we’re the only ones with MAKOplasty, which makes it different,” Dr. Shephard said.

“It’s great of Covenant to reach out and get this technology for its patients, they are doing a fantastic job of keeping up with technology, so that we can have the tools we need to do bigger and better things for patients in our region,” Dr. Shephard said.

“I am feeling great, I wish I had done it sooner,” Betsy Wise said. She had the surgery done about two weeks ago.

“It’s a world of difference,” Wise said. “My knee hurt everyday before the surgery, and I had to take medicine for that, and now it hurts just a little during rehab, and I’m almost through with that.”

Before the surgery, Wise got lots of preparation, including some time with the Covenant Joint Ranch, where they sent her home with literature about her procedure to prepare her.

“You’re in there with a lot of people – some are knee, some are hip, some are shoulders, but they explain exactly what’s going to happen, and I can tell you, it did exactly what they said,” Wise said. “There were no surprises and I love that.”

She’s now recovering from her surgery, and looking forward to what’s next.

“We have a two year old granddaughter, Kimber, she’s very busy and I can keep up with her. She was the motivation to go ahead and do it,” Wise said.