Rich’s Story
Rich Arthur is the president and owner of a manufacturing company in Ohio, machining parts for science, technology and manufacturing companies. He and his wife are empty nesters now that their three children have flown the coop. In his spare time, Rich prides himself on being active. His sport of choice is basketball, something he has kept up since his high school days. He enjoys the occasional pickup game with friends as well as competing with his team in tournaments.
Basketball isn’t the only activity keeping Rich moving. He also volunteers at the nonprofit Design Outreach, which creates life-sustaining solutions through humanitarian engineering around the world. Along with other solutions, Rich’s team supports the LifePump, a hand-powered water pump designed to last longer and reach deeper than commonly available pumps to bring reliable water to communities in sub-Saharan Africa. His work on the LifePump involves occasional trips to local villages in Africa.
Rich installed a new LifePump in Zambia with two ATTUNE® Knees.
A couple years ago, Rich began to experience knee pain, affecting his ability to take part in his favorite activities. Rich quickly became the guy who got picked last in pickup basketball games, which bothered him a great deal. Eventually he stopped playing basketball altogether. As the pain became worse, it affected his ability to make an impact through Design Outreach, as well as in his everyday life. He dreaded stairs, and even standing was uncomfortable. The pain was affecting his disposition as a father and husband.
One day Rich opened up to his friend Abe who knew about the ATTUNE® Knee. Reminiscing on this conversation Rich shares,
“My conversation with Abe helped me make up my mind. Knowing there is a knee replacement that could help me get back to being myself again was the deciding factor.”
As the surgery date approached, Rich still had some apprehension his knee wouldn’t feel natural and he heard physical therapy after the surgery was hard work, but he looked forward to getting back to doing more things.
True to his nature, before Rich had his bilateral knee surgery, receiving both knee replacements in one surgery, he booked a trip for himself and his wife to Israel as a way to motivate him to gain his mobility back. His daughter, a new nurse, made sure he received the best possible physical therapy. His other two children were great supporters and provided motivation to get moving.
When Rich looks back on his recovery he shares, “Two days after surgery I was able to stand and have no pain other than the incision. The joint felt good. I had almost immediate relief. Physical therapy was a lot of work, but I started going up and down the stairs pretty easily. My therapists were amazed at how quickly I recovered.”
Four months after surgery, Rich’s confidence in his knees helped him return to the basketball court. Almost a year later, his game is now at 90% and he’s back to playing guard on his Westerville Old Timers (WOT) team. As for Design Outreach, Abe is grateful Rich is doing so well – both for him personally and for the lives that he will impact as he continues his work.
Rich and his wife traveled to Israel three months after his surgery and he was able to climb all the steps up to the ancient buildings. He also traveled to Malawi around the same time to do some maintenance on a LifePump and chose to do a side trip to hike to Victoria Falls (at the border of Zimbabwe, a neighboring country). These trips wouldn’t have been possible without his new knees.
When asked about his knees, Rich shares,
“It’s cliché but getting my knees replaced was a ‘game-changer for me.’ I got the advice previously that I should delay surgery because I wouldn’t be able to do the activities I wanted to do with knee replacements. But when I learned about ATTUNE Knee, I realized I had another option. I’m glad I didn’t wait and my advice to others is to seek out options because I’m back to living a full life with my knee replacements.”
If knee pain is holding you back, visit www.ATTUNEKnee.com.
