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ORTHOPEDIC SURGERY
All inHis
By Andrea Kalas-Nagel
AFTER A SUCCESSFUL KNEE REPLACEMENT
in 2010, Bob Allen thought he would be back
to his old self. However, almost a year later he
noticed things weren’t going as smoothly as he
thought they should.
“I went to see my doctor again, and he thought every-
thing went well with the initial operation but suggested
I get a second opinion,” Allen said. “As it turned out,
everything was perfectly fine with my knee; it wasn’t the
problem at all—but my hips were terrible.”
W H E N T H I N G S W E R E N ’ T
W H A T T H E Y S E E M E D
Allen’s physician, Joseph Bowen, M.D., explained that
Allen’s extended knee pain was actually a result of bad
hips. WhileAllen never experienced pain in his hip joint,
he did have limited movement and strength, and his
knee was trying to compensate. Both hips would have
to be replaced.
“The total joint program at Kootenai was a great experi-
ence,” Allen said. “We had a group meeting with others
going through the programwhere we could learn about
the procedure and what to expect.”
Dr. Bowen is one of only a few physicians in the Inland
Northwest that perform anterior hip replacements. This
approach is done through smaller incisions with more
specialized instrumentation to help make this surgery
less traumatic to the patient.
“I don’t remember being in pain after my surgery,”
Allen said. “After just two weeks, I only had to take my
pain medication if I overdid it with my rehab or if I was
having trouble sleeping.”
A F T E R A S U C C E S S F U L
K N E E A N D H I P
R E P L A C E M E N T ,
B O B A L L E N I S
F I N A L L Y P A I N - F R E E
Stride
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