Lis-Marie Lidén is a fashion writer and personal stylist from Sweden, living in London. She has had a long history of injuries, including multiple dislocations of the patella which led to cartilage damage in her knee. The damage resulted in daily knee pain and continual physiotherapy. She received injections to alleviate the pain, underwent an arthroscopic procedure to clean up her meniscus, and even endured microfracture surgery. None of the treatments seemed to help and it began affecting her quality of life by depressing her mood. “The daily pain was making me depressed and so much more aware of my injury and how little I was able to do,” Lis-Marie said. Since she did not want to have a partial knee replacement at such a young age, she turned to her consulting surgeon and received a BioPoly® RS Knee implant in 2014. After the surgery, the implant helped to relieve the pain in her joint. BioPoly® has allowed her to continue exercising. Lis-Marie is pleased with her results and hopeful that she will not need any additional knee procedures for the foreseeable future.
“It will continue to be a journey of balancing this, but all in all BioPoly® has been super successful and definitely changed my life,” she said.
Brett Stephens is a Group Director for a recruitment specialist company and lives in Southampton, UK. The medial femoral condyle in his left knee was damaged due to wear and tear after years of playing basketball and bodybuilding. The pain from the damage started out mild but gradually increased over a two-year period until he was experiencing severe pain. Brett felt pain every time he stood up, walked, or exercised. Even though bodybuilding was a passion of his for over 20 years, he was no longer able to train his legs in the gym. “My quality of life and ability to exercise were greatly affected, and I found I was suffering from anxiety about my condition,” Brett stated. Brett received a micro-fracture procedure in 2014, but his knee never felt right and the results were considered a failure within 6 months. After two additional surgeries, Brett feared he was headed for a total knee replacement until he learned about BioPoly®. He received a BioPoly® RS Knee implant in October 2016. After a short recovery period, he began physical therapy to strengthen his knee and was fully active after only three months. He can walk pain-free, jog, and has even returned to the gym with the ability to perform all the exercises he did prior to injuring his knee.
Along with the physical change, Brett noticed he has a much more positive outlook on his future, “This is the closest to my pre-injury condition I have ever been and I’m extremely happy with the outcome. It really has given me a new lease on life and a positive outlook!”
Mary Keal is a teaching assistant from Chalfont St. Peter and mother of two children who lived a very active lifestyle until her knee pain began to prevent her from skiing, going to the gym, and jogging. Mary started having pain in her left knee at the age of 35 which only worsened over the following decade. “By the time I was 45 I was walking like an 80-year-old,” Mary stated. Mary suffered from damaged cartilage in her knee that may have been caused by her knee alignment combined with her very active lifestyle. Mary previously had six knee surgeries but was still suffering from pain and was too young to have a total or partial knee replacement. BioPoly® provides a cartilage repair option for younger patients like Mary to relieve their pain when other surgeries fail. Mary joined the BioPoly® Knee System Clinical Trial and received her surgery on January 2012 becoming the first patient in the world to have a BioPoly® implant. After a short period of physical therapy, Mary was able to return to her active lifestyle pain-free.
“I’m back exercising in the gym again for the first time in years, I don’t take any painkillers, and I can wear high heels. I’ve even booked myself on a skiing holiday next year.”
Great Toe & Lesser Toe Patient Pamphlet