Mercy News Room

July15, 2008

A Knee of Her Own

At Mercy Medical Center – North Iowa, Mason City Clinic Orthopaedic Surgeons Offer First Knee Replacement Shaped to Fit a Woman’s Anatomy

MASON CITY, IA – Research shows women and men are different from their brain cells to their bones, joints included, which is why women with painful knees now have a total knee replacement specifically shaped to fit them.  Mason City Clinic orthopaedic surgeons are among the first surgeons in the North Iowa area to offer the Zimmer® Gender Solutions™ Knee, the first and only knee replacement shaped to fit a woman’s anatomy.

Nearly two-thirds of the more than 400,000 annual knee replacement patients are women, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, and the numbers continue to increase each year. Yet research shows that while both women and men vastly under use knee replacement, women are three times less likely than men to undergo the procedure, although they suffer from more knee pain and resulting disability. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) reports knee replacement can substantially improve pain, function and quality of life.

“The new gender knee, the only knee shaped and sized to optimally fit the female knee, should make women more amenable to having a knee replacement,” said Timothy Gibbons, M.D., orthopaedic surgeon with Mason City Clinic.  “There’s a differences between men’s and women’s shoes and how they fit, the same applies to the knee.”  The gender specific knee is based on Zimmer’s NexGen® Knee, which has an excellent 10-year track record and offers the best of all worlds – a highly successful implant with high flexion capabilities that is now designed to fit and feel more like a woman’s natural knee. 

According to Dr. Gibbons, the goal of a knee replacement includes alleviating knee pain and restoring mobility. The gender specific knee offers fit and function that is optimized for the characteristics more commonly seen in female patients.  Other advantages include:

  • It can be implanted using less-invasive techniques, which typically offer smaller scars, shorter hospitalization and quicker recovery; and 
  • safely accommodates high flexion, which is necessary for many activities involving deep bending.

For more information about gender knee options at Mercy Medical Center – North Iowa, call Mason City Clinic Orthopaedic Department at 641.422.6630 or visit www.pacewithlife.com. 

Dr. Gibbons is a member of the Mason City Clinic and is a partner with Mike Crane, M.D., Darron Jones, M.D., Eric Nelson, M.D., Eric Potthoff, D.O., and Michael Scherb, M.D., in Mason City Clinic Orthopaedics Department.  The orthopaedic surgeons at Mason City Clinic offer the latest advances in hip and knee replacement surgery at Mercy Medical Center – North Iowa including minimally invasive orthopaedic surgery, knee and hip resurfacing and gender specific total knees.