Getting Back to an Active Life, and More… with Knee Replacement Surgery

For many people, the decision to undergo joint replacement surgery is not an easy one. It can take years of indecision, doubt, and unnecessary pain before a patient finally decides to go ahead with their surgery.

Amir Alrubaiy was one of these people. For more than ten years, he tried to ignore the increasingly painful arthritis in both his knees. As a 49-year-old professional fitness trainer, power weightlifter, expert skier, and father- of- two, Amir loved being active. But he put off joint replacement surgery because he worried it might stop him from continuing all his favorite athletic activities. “I thought having the surgery might actually limit my ability to do all the things I loved,” he explains. “So, I just dealt with the pain.”

But when it became too painful for Amir to play pickleball with his wife, he knew it was time to explore some other options. In 2022, he met with Dr. Todd Miner and the team at Colorado Joint Replacement (CJR). Amir connected right away with Dr. Miner and described the whole process as “easy, smooth and seamless.”

“Dr. Miner is great,” explains Amir. “He’s easy to talk to and allows tons of time for questions.” Amir also appreciated that the team at CJR really listened to his needs and goals. “They never pushed the surgery on me,” he adds. They wanted to know my goals and made sure we could meet them.”

In addition, though Dr. Miner wanted to ensure a safe recovery for Amir, he didn’t discourage him from resuming his athletic activities post-surgery. “He never took any of my activities off the table, which was important to me.”

A few months after his initial consultation with Dr. Miner and the team, Amir went in for his bilateral knee replacement surgeries at AdventHealth Porter. The surgery went smoothly, and Amir went home the next day. He did several weeks of rehab and by week 11, he was riding a stationary bike and squatting with weights. Eight months later, the pain in his knees was gone and he once again had full function. After one-year post-surgery, Amir was back to skiing, boxing, rock climbing, and even surpassing his previous weightlifting achievements in the gym: “I feel like I’m in my thirties again – and maybe even stronger now.”

Today, Amir is grateful for the team at CJR and wishes he had done the surgeries earlier: “If I had known how much better I would feel, and the amazing results I would achieve, I could have saved myself so much angst and pain. Thank you CJR for helping me keep doing the activities that make me happiest, and more.”