ILLUSTRATION BY MATT CHINWORTH
You’ve heard of smartphones, smart cars, and smartwatches. But what about a smart joint replacement? That’s the new, revolutionary reality at Beacon Orthopaedics, where, starting this year, patients have the opportunity to forgo the traditional knee replacement for a tech-forward “smart knee.”
Designed by U.S.-based Zimmer Biomet, the first-of-its-kind smart implant uses a set of small sensors to track the patient’s movement and progress following surgery. The sensors communicate with a special iPhone and Apple Watch app that allows both the patient and their care team to access the data and make adjustments to the plan of care as needed.
John Larkin, M.D., was the first surgeon in the region to perform the procedure. “This is really where the future of joint replacements is headed,” he says.
Larkin performed the inaugural surgery on Ann Patten, a retired nurse who experienced ongoing knee problems, including pain and loss of cartilage, after tearing her meniscus in 2004. Using the smart knee, Patten can keep track of everything from the number of steps she takes in a day to her walking speed, range of motion, and stride length. The sensors collect data several times throughout the day and analyze the number overnight, sending a detailed report to the care team for review the next morning.
Traditional knee replacements are still going to be the norm for the foreseeable future. But Larkin says that other smart replacements, like shoulders and hips, are on the horizon. Patients, he says, are already reaping the benefits of the new replacement, which costs about the same as a traditional implant and doesn’t require an overnight hospital stay. And with the overall forecast for joint replacements expected to increase by as much as 400 percent by 2030, the new technology is arriving just in time for active, tech savvy baby boomers.
“These aren’t the old patients that used to come in and say, Hey, Doc. Just fix it and tell me what to do. Those patients are going away. These patients want to know, What’s the effect of this? How long does it last? Are there complications involved? And so I think [the demand] is just going to continue to increase for interactive devices. No doubt about it.”
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