Any knee orthopedic surgeons recommended?

Long story short, I tweaked my knee (previously injured on the other side) a few weeks ago and based on prior experience it sure felt like classic meniscus issue. It was a pretty tame thing that caused the tweak but it was the right pain in the right place with the right symptoms.

At any rate, I saw an ortho for it and got a MRI but they are saying the MRI says no tear and they want to talk abut just some injections and PT. From my understanding, MRIs aren't necessarily 100% in terms of picking up all tears and given the symptoms I am not totally buying what they are selling. I have a follow-up on Monday but I may be looking for a second opinion after that.

So . . . anyone have a really good "knee guy" in the Denver area they would highly recommend if I go down the route of a second look?

Andy Motz was given to me by a wrestling coach. I also have a negative on a doctor I saw and a coworkers wife had isses with recovery after he worked her shoulder. Cant recall his name, and if needed pm me.

Charles Gottlob? was another name by same wrestler.

This guy , he took over care at another ortho place in denver, after my amputation. Some advice when seeking treatment. AVOID a sports medicine ortho Dr, unless the injury is sports related. Their focus is specifically on sports related injuries and treatment. Get an ortho who does anything other than SM.

https://www.panoramaortho.com/find-a...ronald-hugate/

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Originally Posted by Great-Kazoo

This guy , he took over care at another ortho place in denver, after my amputation.

https://www.panoramaortho.com/find-a...ronald-hugate/

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Gottlob was/is at Panorama ortho. Sounds like a competent place.

Appreciate the quick replies!

This guy! Was a referral by my spine surgeon (Dr. Timothy Kuklo) and is fantastic. He's also close and usually gets me in ASAP when other docs put me out 2 weeks.

https://www.orthotree.com/john-soteros-xenos-md.html

I saw Dr. Johnson at Panorama Orthopedics here in Highlands Ranch and they did a really poor job of handling my knee trauma and swelling. They couldn't get me in for a follow-up for 2 weeks. I contacted Dr. Xenos' office and they had me scheduled for MRI images the next day and follow-up to review images the day after. It's a really well run office and I've had great service no matter whom I was working with.

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Originally Posted by Gman

This guy! Was a referral by my spine surgeon (Dr. Timothy Kuklo) and is fantastic. He's also close and usually gets me in ASAP when other docs put me out 2 weeks.

https://www.orthotree.com/john-soteros-xenos-md.html

I saw Dr. Johnson at Panorama Orthopedics here in Highlands Ranch and they did a really poor job of handling my knee trauma and swelling. They couldn't get me in for a follow-up for 2 weeks. I contacted Dr. Xenos' office and they had me scheduled for MRI images the next day and follow-up to review images the day after. It's a really well run office and I've had great service no matter whom I was working with.

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Will take a look. Some of the reviews I see for him and the office are less-than-stellar, but you never know about the history or the people on some of those. Some really good ones, too. I definitely have some checking into things to do. Sounds like you've had very good personally experience with him.

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Originally Posted by Great-Kazoo

This guy , he took over care at another ortho place in denver, after my amputation. Some advice when seeking treatment. AVOID a sports medicine ortho Dr, unless the injury is sports related. Their focus is specifically on sports related injuries and treatment. Get an ortho who does anything other than SM.

https://www.panoramaortho.com/find-a...ronald-hugate/

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I think Hugate was th guy that worked with my dad's hip injury right before he died (not like that--he was the surgeon who got involved at one point at the hospital to advise and my mom raved about him if it's the same guy). Dad had Alzheimer's and the fall and hip injury put him over the edge and he went pretty fast.

Wonder if he does more simple knee stuff? Anyway, will check him out along with the other name above for Gottlob.

Dr Hugate and Dr. Furan from panoramic are the two surgeons that fixed and partially replaced my knee a week and a half ago. Eight days after surgery, I went up our 75' ladder truck with full bunkets and pack. There is very little pain, but still some swelling. I go back to see Dr. Hugate on Monday to hopefully be released back to work. They did an excellent job. I was told my knee was a very complex surgery, I don't know on the simple ones.

Why wife had knee replacement by Dr Foran with Panorama and Colorado Orthopedics. Excellent results.

Back in 1988 I broke a bone in my hand.
Dr Stahl at Panorama did a great job fixing it.

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Originally Posted by encorehunter

Dr Hugate and Dr. Furan from panoramic are the two surgeons that fixed and partially replaced my knee a week and a half ago. Eight days after surgery, I went up our 75' ladder truck with full bunkets and pack. There is very little pain, but still some swelling. I go back to see Dr. Hugate on Monday to hopefully be released back to work. They did an excellent job. I was told my knee was a very complex surgery, I don't know on the simple ones.

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Called their office to ask some questions . . . sounds like Hugate doesn't really take knee stuff unless it's replacement or at risk kind of stuff (doesn't really do just the soft tissue side from what they told me). Said they'd refer me over to their Sports Med team, which I guess could mean Gottlob as an option. Although at some point--that knee will certainly have to be replaced down the road when it finally wears out completely.

Will continue to check out and research all the suggestions. Appreciate it, guys!

Only go to Sports Medicine guys for knees. That's their specialty.

I tweaked my knee a year ago, did the MRI, saw two highly regarded sports ortho surgeons, both said the knife wouldn't help me. Both said the steroid injections were a "mask" but they were happy to give them. I'll limp along and deal with it as-is.

Good luck.

CU sports med (UC health Anchutz). I went to those guys for my knee. Their orthopedics is higher quality than Keck (USC, LA rams sports med), Geffen (UCLA), or even Kerlan and Jobe (who did 1st Tommy Johns).

If you decide to do uc health, let me know.

Btw their rhumatology/immunology dept is even more remarkable.

* note: their staff and standards of practice only. This is not a recommendation for med school, residency or fellow (ship) ]program.

Dr. John Xenos is the man. He is very busy and comes highly recommended by medical professionals that used his service. I'm a previous patient and highly recommend him hips and knee related issues. Dr. Xenos He takes the time to talk to you and he will spend a much time with you as you need, based upon your questions and needs, not his own. He gets behind by doing this but his level of care is unmatched.

https://www.orthotree.com/john-soteros-xenos-md.html

Quick update . . .

I just got back from the follow-up at the original ortho (this is Steadman Hawkins over in DTC). Everything in the last voice message and quick convo I had with a scheduing person led me to believe that they were just going to have me see the PA. That message basically said there was no tear and they could discuss PT and possibly injections and seemed like that was that. But I ended up actually seeing the surgeon and having a pretty good conversation.

Told him the MRI results they relayed actually left me with more questions than answers based on my past experiences and what this still felt like. He kind of laughed and said, like me, he was half-expecting to see a tear of some kind based on my symptoms and description. The swelling has come down quite a bit with the icing I have been doing and the knee was feeling incrementally "better" in some ways, but I still have that meniscus-tear-like feeling that goes in and out--seemingly less often but still painful. He brought up the MRI and we walked through it and I discussed what was still going on and what aggravated it. Asked if it's possible that the MRI could be missing something.

He said it's possible . . . although typically the size and severity where it's causing people issues is usually pretty reliably shown--but not 100%. Ran through a few more tests on the knee. He said he'd like to give it a few more weeks to see how it it goes and if it keeps improving. Said to give it another week of taking it a bit easy and icing but then to start testing it out a bit more with increased activity and see how things go. If the pain and issues aren't going away, he said it may very well be necessary to scope it and have a look and see if there's anything there that can be addressed that just isn't making itself known on the imaging.

So, that seems reasonable to me and I'll give that a fair shot. If that doesn't bear fruit . . . I have a number of great suggestions to wade through for a second opinion. I want to thank you all for the posts and PM's. Everyone here is always a tremendous help with all sorts of topics.

I hope it continues to improve and you get healed up soon.

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Originally Posted by Gman

I hope it continues to improve and you get healed up soon.

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Yeah . . . I hope so, but I'm skeptical that it's not something torn or floating around in there that will have to be addressed. At least he agreed that it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility and said it may be one of those deals where you just have to scope it to find out if there's no joy on the added time. I'll give it a fair shake to wait it out a few weeks longer.

You taking anti-inflammatories?

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Originally Posted by Gman

You taking anti-inflammatories?

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I did Advil early on (first couple weeks) and my chiropractor buddy has been doing some ultrasound with some anti-inflammatory gel. The last week, I've mostly been doing the ice . . . I have a cryo cuff knee setup that is pretty slick for hitting it easily and several times a day.

I may add back in some Advil and see if that makes any added difference.

That's really good news, knee surgery is no fun. Stationary bicycle is about the best exercise for knees. Climbing stairs is great too, but going down can be murder. PT is everything. Do everything they give you and double it!

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Originally Posted by Delfuego

That's really good news, knee surgery is no fun. Stationary bicycle is about the best exercise for knees. Climbing stairs is great too, but going down can be murder. PT is everything. Do everything they give you and double it!

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I find myself in a weird spot. Having gone through a knee surgery (and a few others) I'm not really "cheering" for getting scoped. At the same time, if it's a problem that does need it to get back to good shape . . . I'm relatively young and have good insurance. So if it needs to be done, I'd rather just knock it out. But I'm good with the plan we have right now to give it a little more time and road test it more aggressively soon and see how it reacts.

I have an airdyne in the basement, so that will be something I can take advantage of. In my case, it's going UP the stairs where it tends to tweak more. Down is pretty much good to go all the time.