Podcast - The Bee's Knees

Stories of knee recovery, therapy and life after surgery.

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An NCAA Basketball Official, Recovery After Bilateral Knee Replacement

by Ray Natili

My recovery after bilateral knee replacement

Hi. My name is Ray Natili. I am 53 years old, and I am an NCAA basketball official. I live in Davidson, North Carolina, and between playing basketball in college and started officiating almost 30 years ago in high school, I had pretty bad degenerative osteoarthritis. I had some pretty bad bull legs. We were like this pretty much. And through January, February, March this season was as big a struggle as any. I was limping through airports and everything along those lines.

Full Range of Motion Within Two Weeks

I came home, started using the X10 immediately a couple times a day. It doesn't hurt because the machine knows when it's putting too much pressure on you, and it will stop if it realizes that you're getting too much pressure. It's incredibly easy to use. I am so far ahead of where I would have been if I hadn't found it simply because you don't get any feedback on your own.

Fortunately, for myself, I had pretty good range of motion prior to, I am 0 to 130 with both, and I got there in probably a week with both of them. And I do the exercises, and I do the leg lifts and everything else, but it's not giving me any feedback as to, "Okay, where am I" range of motion, or "How did I get to this point based on how much resistance" and things along those lines.

I would wholeheartedly recommend the X10. You don't have to do bilateral. If you just had one done, and you're worried about your range of motion and "How am I going to get back to where I was?" I think this is a no brainer. To be honest with you, now, that it's been with me here since my surgery, it was worth every dime.

Recovery after bilateral knee replacement with the X10.

Podcast - The Bee's Knees

Stories of knee recovery, therapy and life after surgery.

Back to Basketball

An NCAA Basketball Official, Recovery After Bilateral Knee Replacement

by Ray Natili

My recovery after bilateral knee replacement

Hi. My name is Ray Natili. I am 53 years old, and I am an NCAA basketball official. I live in Davidson, North Carolina, and between playing basketball in college and started officiating almost 30 years ago in high school, I had pretty bad degenerative osteoarthritis. I had some pretty bad bull legs. We were like this pretty much. And through January, February, March this season was as big a struggle as any. I was limping through airports and everything along those lines.

Full Range of Motion Within Two Weeks

I came home, started using the X10 immediately a couple times a day. It doesn't hurt because the machine knows when it's putting too much pressure on you, and it will stop if it realizes that you're getting too much pressure. It's incredibly easy to use. I am so far ahead of where I would have been if I hadn't found it simply because you don't get any feedback on your own.

Fortunately, for myself, I had pretty good range of motion prior to, I am 0 to 130 with both, and I got there in probably a week with both of them. And I do the exercises, and I do the leg lifts and everything else, but it's not giving me any feedback as to, "Okay, where am I" range of motion, or "How did I get to this point based on how much resistance" and things along those lines.

I would wholeheartedly recommend the X10. You don't have to do bilateral. If you just had one done, and you're worried about your range of motion and "How am I going to get back to where I was?" I think this is a no brainer. To be honest with you, now, that it's been with me here since my surgery, it was worth every dime.

Recovery after bilateral knee replacement with the X10.

You never know when life is going to throw you a curve. My curveball came the week before Memorial Day, when I tripped in the garage (on my way to exercise) and broke my patella, i.e., kneecap. Two days later, Dr. Jason Sadowski bolted the kneecap, wrapped it with wire and sent me home in a leg brace designed to keep my right leg absolutely straight for six weeks.

Podcast - The Bee's Knees

Stories of knee recovery, therapy and life after surgery.

Patella Fracture Recovery: How Linnea Got Her Groove Back

You never know when life is going to throw you a curve.  My curveball came the week before Memorial Day, when I tripped in the garage (on my way to exercise) and broke my patella, i.e., kneecap. I patella fracture recovery was going to be needed.

Wrapped, Wired, My Wounded Knee

Two days later, Dr. Jason Sadowski bolted the kneecap, wrapped it with wire and sent me home in a leg brace designed to keep my right leg absolutely straight for six weeks. Yep, zero degrees at all times. The first two weeks were the toughest, not only because of some pain, but because I felt so limited. I couldn’t drive, I had to take stairs one at a time, and when I walked, I looked like Frankenstein’s monster.

Of course, I couldn’t help but wonder if I would ever walk correctly again. Would I be able to do yoga again? Take the dog on long walks? But I had heard about the x10 machine years before from a friend (never imagining I would someday need it!), so when the six weeks were up and it was time to start moving my leg and knee, I was thrilled to take the X10 for a spin.

Podcast - The Bee's Knees

Stories of knee recovery, therapy and life after surgery.

Patella Fracture Recovery: How Linnea Got Her Groove Back

You never know when life is going to throw you a curve.  My curveball came the week before Memorial Day, when I tripped in the garage (on my way to exercise) and broke my patella, i.e., kneecap. I patella fracture recovery was going to be needed.

Wrapped, Wired, My Wounded Knee

Two days later, Dr. Jason Sadowski bolted the kneecap, wrapped it with wire and sent me home in a leg brace designed to keep my right leg absolutely straight for six weeks. Yep, zero degrees at all times. The first two weeks were the toughest, not only because of some pain, but because I felt so limited. I couldn’t drive, I had to take stairs one at a time, and when I walked, I looked like Frankenstein’s monster.

Of course, I couldn’t help but wonder if I would ever walk correctly again. Would I be able to do yoga again? Take the dog on long walks? But I had heard about the x10 machine years before from a friend (never imagining I would someday need it!), so when the six weeks were up and it was time to start moving my leg and knee, I was thrilled to take the X10 for a spin.

Podcast - The Bee's Knees

Stories of knee recovery, therapy and life after surgery.

Nancy's Recovery After Knee Manipulation Under Anesthesia

One of the great recovery stories in our 12 year history at X10. Nancy’s sister, Stacey, spent 12 hours online searching for a solution to Nancy’s sticky knee. Why, you may ask. Why not trust traditional PT? Why not leave this to the professionals? The answer is poignantly described in the video here. A sister in trouble… and a sister to the rescue; her recovery after knee manipulation.

It Took Only 13 Days

It took Nancy 13 days to get well. Without the Biodex machine at the clinic. Without a physical therapist. Nancy followed our program, worked daily with her X10 Patient Recovery Coach, dedicated herself to her recovery.

We received a call one year after this inspiring recovery from Nancy. All of 45 seconds on a voice mail. “Hi PJ, I am doing great. In September I bought a Fitbit to track my steps. I can report to you that in the past 6 months I have walked 120 miles with my puppy dog. I am all good… thanks to you and the X10.”

Nancy is like so many X10 patients: a person in need who is just not getting there with P.T. Stacey and Nancy’s story may be inspiring to you… but we can report that she inspires our whole organization each and every day. We are on a mission to help all the “Nancy’s” out there with our X10 program.

Podcast - The Bee's Knees

Stories of knee recovery, therapy and life after surgery.

Nancy's Recovery After Knee Manipulation Under Anesthesia

One of the great recovery stories in our 12 year history at X10. Nancy’s sister, Stacey, spent 12 hours online searching for a solution to Nancy’s sticky knee. Why, you may ask. Why not trust traditional PT? Why not leave this to the professionals? The answer is poignantly described in the video here. A sister in trouble… and a sister to the rescue; her recovery after knee manipulation.

It Took Only 13 Days

It took Nancy 13 days to get well. Without the Biodex machine at the clinic. Without a physical therapist. Nancy followed our program, worked daily with her X10 Patient Recovery Coach, dedicated herself to her recovery.

We received a call one year after this inspiring recovery from Nancy. All of 45 seconds on a voice mail. “Hi PJ, I am doing great. In September I bought a Fitbit to track my steps. I can report to you that in the past 6 months I have walked 120 miles with my puppy dog. I am all good… thanks to you and the X10.”

Nancy is like so many X10 patients: a person in need who is just not getting there with P.T. Stacey and Nancy’s story may be inspiring to you… but we can report that she inspires our whole organization each and every day. We are on a mission to help all the “Nancy’s” out there with our X10 program.

Podcast - The Bee's Knees

Stories of knee recovery, therapy and life after surgery.

Preparing for Knee Surgery

There are many things you can do prior to surgery to help yourself be as prepared as possible and therefore help to make your recovery process as easy as possible. I have for you here and now what you need to know before knee replacement surgery, broken up into three parts. Preparing for Knee Surgery:

* Part 1 Prepare Your Body

* Part 2 Prepare Your Home

* Part 3 Make a Plan

To subscribe to our exclusive free Knee Surgery Preparation Email Series click here: Pre-hab Pre Surgery email series

Make Sure You Are Ready for What's Coming

Preparation is advised when it comes to knee replacement surgery. It’s not hard to be ready. If you bookmark this page and return to it throughout the weeks prior to surgery you will be ahead of the game. Download the checklist, print it out, use it. Do the Pre-hab exercises that you can (never pushing yourself into pain). Get your home ready. None of this stuff is hard to do and it can be so valuable for you when it comes to your recovery afterwards.

Another article that you might find useful... making Medicare easier to understand can be read here.

Podcast - The Bee's Knees

Stories of knee recovery, therapy and life after surgery.

Frank's Unbendable Knee Two Years Later

In early 2016, Frank underwent total knee replacement on his left leg, which went well. The next phase however proved to go NOT so well, and for one reason or another, he ended up living with a 102 - 103 degrees of flexion for the next 2+ years. "Normal" flexion for most of us is somewhere around 130 degrees, with nothing hindering us. Frank's knee two years later was nowhere close.

Frank was stuck!  And it sure wasn't for being unmotivated or lazy. Quite the opposite.

A Solution to the Unbendable Knee

Amazed, stunned, and speechless, hope rising up in my heart, as a whole new sense of what’s possible for people struggling with those “sticky knees“… for YEARS.  How many more are out there?  How many more might be able to walk normally again, play sports again, ride a bike again, heck – sit down and stand up easily again?  Have many people out there simply given up?  Maybe there’s a gentle solution that can restore THEIR hope, their walk, their legs, their lives?

Well, Frank and that knee of his. New story, much better now! Man, machine, miracles, prayers answered.

To watch videos about The X10 Knee Recovery System click here.

To read another account of a knee replacement recovery gone wrong, meet Mike Wyckoff here.