Brian’s Story

Back to golf after knee and hip replacements

If there’s one message Brian Brown has for anyone suffering from serious joint problems, it’s this: Don’t wait to do surgery until your life is intolerable.

“Your quality of life deteriorates, you lose your range of motion, and you don’t sleep anymore,” Brian says. “And, in some cases, you get complications like back problems because you’re constantly favoring one side over the other.”

Brian’s Joint Replacements

The 58-year-old Walpole, Massachusetts, father of two, who was diagnosed with arthritis at 37, speaks from hard-won experience. Both of Brian’s hips and his right knee have been replaced over the last 13 years. His most recent knee replacement and hip replacement at the Kaplan Joint Center have changed his life.

Brian has always been athletic and active, playing golf, coaching high school basketball for two decades, and bartending part-time in addition to his full-time job. “I’m in construction sales, and I’m in and out of my car all day, going to job sites, visiting customers,” Brian explains. “When your joints start to go bad, moving is painful, but the more active you are, the better it is for you. But when you sit in the car all day like I do, a bad joint will stiffen. With the new joints, getting in and out of the car is so much easier.”

About four years ago, Brian’s painful right knee began to worsen. He was very impressed when he called the Joint Center and was given an appointment for the next day. The surgery went superbly, so when his right hip became intolerable a couple of years later, he knew where he would go. Hany Bedair, MD, replaced Brian’s hip. “He’s so attentive. He makes you feel like you’re the most important case he’s doing that month,” Brian says.

The Expert Joint Care Brian Needed

Brown said the Joint Center runs very efficiently and puts a premium on making sure patients are comfortable and understand everything that will happen to them, from their first appointment to their last. “All of the staff is very invested in you and your procedure. From pre-op to the operation to recovery to physical therapy, the entire staff was terrific.”

Brown says that in addition to appreciating the lack of pain and improved mobility, he treasures finally feeling safe in his own body — confident, for example, that his right knee won’t give out when he ascends the stairs. He’s back to walking, biking, swimming, hiking, and his favorite activity of all: golf. “Swinging without pain is awesome,” he says.