Runner back on feet after knee replacement surgery

Teresa Todd had been trail running for 40 years when she fell while trying to jump over a tree.

"I missed and tore up my knee," Teresa said. "I put it off and ran on it for over a year, and it got really bad and so I couldn’t walk on it."

That's when she turned to Jonathan Surdam, MD, with the IU Health Orthopedics & Sports Medicine team to help her get back on her feet.

“She was definitely having trouble staying active and enjoying the kind of activities she usually does,” said Dr. Surdam.

Conservative management wasn’t helping, and after talking it over they agreed that knee replacement surgery was the best next step. After the surgery, Teresa recovered and had so much more mobility that she decided to get her other knee replaced as well.

“I wanted to be pain free,” she said. “And I have grandchildren and I wanted to be able to play with them.”

She described the decision to get the second knee replacement done with this team as “a no-brainer.”

“They gave me my life back,” she said. “They’ve just been the best.”

Watch the full story above.