Running 3,200 Miles Across America on Two Partial Knee Replacements (Patient Story Update)

Richard Donovan is the Race Director for the World Marathon Challenge and an accomplished ultra runner who was unwilling to give up his passion-even with bone-on-bone presentation within his knee joints. Richard traveled from Ireland to The Stone Clinic in San Francisco to receive two partial knee replacements using the MAKO Robotic system. Our cutting-edge technology and specialized rehabilitation allowed him to return to his passion for long-distance running.
One year after his second of two partial knee replacements, Richard embarked on a remarkable run across the continental United States. He started his TransUSA Run at the Boston Marathon in April and finished his run 3,200 miles and 16 states later at the Santa Monica Pier in California. Running 40+ miles per day on his partial knee replacements, it was a truly phenomenal accomplishment and an absolute inspiration to injured athletes everywhere.
Find out how our team is helping athletes run after knee replacement: www.stoneclini...
Find out more details on Richard's story here (including the feature in Triathalon Magazine on Richard's surgery program that enabled this cross-country run) www.stoneclini...
Or learn about our robotic knee replacement program here:
www.stoneclini... #RoboticJointCenter
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Or arrange for a complimentary virtual consultation to find out how we can help you run again:
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Hear from other patients who've returned to running after knee surgery at The Stone Clinic at:
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AUTO TRANSCRIPT:
So in April, 2021, I had a partial knee replacement at the Stone Clinic. I was on the medial side of my right knee, which had become bone and bone and this actually followed up the same procedure in 20 19, 2 years before on my left knee. So I've had two partial knee replacements at the Stone Clinic. I said about doing rehab here in San Francisco initially and then went back to Ireland. Slowly got back into running and exactly a year later, I started a run across the USA, beginning in Boston and running over 3,200 miles to Santa Monica here in California.
Richard is a great example of an athlete in their fifties who has bone-on-bone changes in their knee joint and have been told they need to stop running and wait for their total joint replacement. In fact, when we looked at Richard's x-rays, he had bone-on-bone changes only on one side of each of his knees, the medial side of his joint. So for Richard, a driven athlete, we went ahead and did a partial knee replacement using the MACO robotic system and a number of little adjustments that we've worked on and figured out over the years here at the Stone Clinic to help him set his goal to return to running, to rehab hi both of his knees in a way that would permit him to regain full motion in full normal gait and then returned him back to his passion of long-distance running. We have learned that over the last 30 years, if we place the partial knee replacements perfectly, patients can with optimal rehab and with a host of other fine tuning return to full sports without concern for knocking their implants loose. Because of that, we don't limit our patients. We encourage them to return to sports, and Richard is a beautiful example of returning to high-level running on his partial knee replacements.
The interesting thing in this run for me was when I did previous runs, I always had an issue with my knees. I always felt some kind of pain at the front of my knee, like tendonitis or whatever. In this run, I felt absolutely nothing in terms of pain. It was like it was reborn again and my legs felt amazing. And it was, you know, it was the first time I think in years I can remember running without leg pain. And I thought it might come only if I'm honest, but I never did. Because it was a real test, you know, to do that kind of mileage day after day that was going really test the legs and they responded great. And so, you know, I can honestly say I finished at Santa Monica Pier without any pain whatsoever.