Dr. H. Kurtis Biggs

03/05/2026

Quick tip for the week: occasional popping or clicking in your knee can be normal, especially after sitting for a while or during certain movements. But if your knee is making noise consistently, especially if it's accompanied by pain, swelling, or a grinding sensation, that's your body telling you something needs attention.

A lot of patients ignore these sounds for months or years because the discomfort isn't "bad enough" yet to do anything about. By the time the pain catches up to the noise, there's often more cartilage damage than there would have been if they'd come in earlier for an evaluation.

Getting it checked doesn't mean you need surgery. Most of the time, it means you have information, and information lets you make better decisions about activity modification, strengthening exercises, or other conservative measures that can protect your joint and delay or prevent further damage.

Don't wait until a small problem becomes a big one. If your knee is trying to tell you something, listen.

03/02/2026

These are some statistics I share with patients who are still on the fence about surgery.

First: Patients with untreated knee arthritis are 3x more likely to fall than those without knee problems. When your knee is unstable or painful, your balance suffers in ways you don't always notice day to day. Falls in older adults lead to fractures, hospitalizations, and a cascade of health problems that can be significantly harder to recover from than the surgery you were trying to avoid.

Second: Patients who delay surgery over 2 years require 30% more physical therapy sessions to reach the same outcomes. People assume waiting is the conservative, safe choice. It's not. Every month you delay, you're losing muscle mass and mobility that you'll have to rebuild afterward. You're not preserving anything by waiting. You're making recovery harder.

Third: 90% of joint replacement patients say they wish they hadn't waited so long. I hear this confirmed in my own practice constantly. Almost no one regrets having surgery once they're on the other side of recovery. But a lot of people regret the years they spent managing pain, declining invitations, and limiting their lives instead of fixing the problem.

If you've been putting off a consultation or delaying a decision you already know you need to make, ask yourself honestly what you're gaining by waiting. The data suggests the answer is: not much.

02/27/2026

Sure, you can manage chronic pain for years. You can adjust your plans around it, decline invitations because of it, accept that certain activities just aren't possible anymore, and find ways to work around the limitations. A lot of people do exactly that, and they do it successfully for longer than you might think.

But at some point, the question stops being "can I live with this?" and becomes "how much of my life am I willing to organize around a problem that's actually fixable?"

The average patient waits 2.7 years from serious consideration to actually having surgery. That's 2.7 years of declining trips, skipping family events, avoiding activities they used to love, and planning life around pain instead of planning life around what they actually want to do.

Joint replacement doesn't fix everything and it's not right for everyone. But for patients with severe arthritis who are already limiting their lives because of pain, it's one of the most effective interventions we have. The data on outcomes is clear, and the satisfaction rates are among the highest in medicine.

If you've been thinking about surgery but keep putting it off, ask yourself this question honestly. The answer might be what finally moves you forward.

02/26/2026

What Stephanie is describing in this review is exactly what we prioritize at the Joint Replacement Institute. Confidence before surgery matters as much as technical skill during it.

The decision to have joint replacement shouldn't feel rushed or pressured. You should have time to ask all your questions, understand what's actually going to happen at each stage of recovery, and feel certain that you're making the right choice for the right reasons. That's why consultations aren't scheduled in 15-minute blocks. We take the time it takes to make sure you leave with clarity rather than more confusion.

When patients say they feel confident going into surgery, that's not an accident. It's the outcome of a process built intentionally around giving you the information, preparation, and support you need to make decisions you feel good about. The staff plays a huge role in that, and I'm lucky to work with a team that understands how much those interactions matter.

Grateful for the trust patients like Stephanie place in us and for taking the time to share their experience!

02/24/2026

This quote captures something I see constantly in practice. The average patient waits 2.7 years from the time they first seriously consider joint replacement to the day they actually have surgery.

During that waiting period, measurable changes happen. They lose an average of 15% of quadriceps muscle mass, which makes post-surgical recovery harder. They miss an average of 47 social events per year due to pain or mobility limitations. They sleep 1.2 hours less per night, which increases systemic inflammation and impairs healing. The opposite knee starts breaking down from compensation, accelerating cartilage loss in what was previously the "good knee." Mental health deteriorates in predictable ways, with 40% meeting criteria for clinical depression.

None of that time spent waiting makes surgery easier or recovery faster. It does the opposite. Every month of delay makes the path back marginally harder.

I understand the hesitation. Surgery is a significant decision and you want to be certain it's the right choice. But waiting for the "perfect time" or hoping things will stabilize on their own comes with real costs that accumulate every month you wait.

You can't get back the years you spent managing pain instead of living without it. But you can decide that today is the day you stop waiting. The research consistently shows that outcomes are better when patients proceed before chronic pain has time to create compounding problems.

If you've been putting off that consultation or delaying a decision you already know you need to make, this is your reminder that waiting isn't neutral.

02/23/2026

This is one of the most common questions patients ask during consultations, and for good reason. People have weddings to attend, family events planned, and trips they've been looking forward to. They want to know if surgery means canceling everything on the calendar.

The timeline for travel after knee replacement is pretty consistent. Most patients can handle car trips within 2-3 weeks and flights within 4-6 weeks, assuming recovery is progressing normally. By 8 weeks, moderate distance travel is manageable for the vast majority of patients.

The key is planning ahead and making small adjustments. For car trips, schedule breaks every 90 minutes to stand, walk, and stretch. Sitting for extended periods causes stiffness and swelling, and those breaks make a real difference. For flights, request an aisle seat so you can get up periodically without disturbing other passengers. Compression stockings help manage leg swelling during travel, and bringing a small ice pack in your carry-on can be useful if you need it.

At the Joint Replacement Institute, we build these timelines into your recovery plan from the beginning so you know exactly what to expect and can plan accordingly. Life doesn't stop for surgery, and recovery shouldn't mean missing the moments that matter to you.

If you have a specific event or trip coming up, bring it up during your consultation. We can structure your surgery and recovery timeline around it.

02/20/2026

Quick weekend reminder: the "weekend warrior" approach to fitness and activity is one of the most common ways people end up injured. Patients who are moderately active throughout the week have significantly lower injury rates than those who try to cram all their physical activity into Saturday and Sunday.

Your body adapts to consistent stress over time. It doesn't adapt well to sudden bursts of activity after days of sitting. If you're planning yard work, home projects, or sports this weekend, ease into it rather than going full intensity right out of the gate.

Enjoy your weekend! And be smart about your physical fitness.

02/19/2026

Have you had a chance to read this month's newsletter?

February's issue takes a closer look at how chronic pain affects relationships. The research is eye opening. Partners of patients with chronic joint pain spend an average of 8.3 additional hours per week managing caregiver tasks, and 61% report feeling emotionally exhausted. But the data also shows what happens after surgery: relationship satisfaction scores improve dramatically, shared activities increase by over 6 hours per week, and caregiver burden drops by more than half.

This month also includes practical information on what actually wears out knee implants, recovery essentials that patients wish they'd known about before surgery, and the measurable costs of delaying surgery while you wait for the "right time."

The full newsletter is available now. Give it a read and let me know what you think.

Click here to read our February newsletter: https://tinyurl.com/es65pypr

02/17/2026

Thrilled to have been interviewed by Tiger Buford on Episode 113 of Bone Chat. We covered two topics I'm passionate about.

The first is anatomic hip stem design. I developed Xerxes because the evidence clearly shows that anatomic stems reduce dislocation rates, but the major orthopedic companies have largely abandoned them in favor of straight stems that are cheaper to inventory. That's a business decision being made at the expense of patient outcomes, and it's a conversation the industry needs to have openly.

The second is opioid-free recovery. I believe we can do significantly better for patients after surgery than defaulting to opioid prescriptions. The opioid crisis has touched too many families for surgeons to keep treating post-op pain the same way we always have. There are better protocols available, and this is something I'll keep advocating for as long as I'm practicing.

Give it a listen and let me know your thoughts: https://shorturl.at/KmJHy

02/16/2026

Happy President's Day!

Here's a fun fact: President George H.W. Bush had a partial knee replacement in 2014 at age 90. He'd already had a hip replacement 14 years earlier at 76, but clearly wasn't letting age slow him down. In fact, he went skydiving on his 90th birthday, the same year he had the knee procedure done.

His wife Barbara had hip replacement surgery in 1997 at age 72, so the Bush family was no stranger to joint replacement surgery, and both of them stayed remarkably active well into their later years despite needing surgical intervention for their joints.

Joint replacement isn't about giving up on activity or conceding to age. Instead , it's about refusing to let chronic pain dictate what you can and can't do with your life. Whether you're a former president jumping out of airplanes at 90 or someone who just wants to walk comfortably through the grocery store without wincing, the goal is exactly the same: restore function so you can live the life you want to live rather than the one your joints are forcing you to accept.

President Bush made it to 94 years old. He spent those final years mobile, active, and engaged with his family rather than sidelined by chronic pain and limited mobility. That's what good outcomes look like regardless of when you have surgery.

No, the lesson isn't that you should wait until you're 90 to address joint problems. It's that joint replacement works at any age when it's appropriately indicated, and the goal is always the same: get you back to doing what matters to you.

02/14/2026

02/13/2026

Physical therapy isn't optional if you want good outcomes from knee replacement surgery. The data is clear: patients who complete their full physical therapy program achieve 89% better range of motion compared to those who stop early. Yet 40% of patients quit before finishing the recommended timeline, which means nearly half of patients are leaving significant functional improvement on the table.

Why do so many people quit? The most common reasons are lack of accountability, unclear expectations about what PT should feel like during recovery, and not fully understanding how much the work matters for long term outcomes. Some patients think they're "good enough" at six weeks and stop pushing. Others get discouraged when progress feels slow or when exercises are uncomfortable, and they assume something is wrong. Both groups end up with worse long term function than they could have achieved if they'd stuck with the program.

At the Joint Replacement Institute, we don't leave PT compliance to chance. We build it into the program from the start. You know exactly what's expected at each stage of recovery, when functional milestones should happen, and why the timeline matters. We track your progress, provide accountability through structured check-ins, and make sure you're not navigating recovery alone or guessing whether you're on track.

The difference shows up in outcomes. Our patients complete their PT programs at significantly higher rates because the structure, expectations, and support are built into the process rather than assumed.

Surgery gets you halfway to a great outcome. Physical therapy gets you the rest of the way. At the Joint Replacement Institute, we make sure you complete both.