Former World Cup alpine racer and Olympic medalist Lindsey Vonn has been battling knee issues for a while now, and she just announced to her 2.3 million followers on Instagram that "after a lot of thought, research and talking to many many doctors, I made the decision to get a knee replacement." See below.
Vonn reported that she has severe tri-compartment degeneration, but the main compartment that has been painful is the lateral compartment, or the outside of her knee.
"My doctor for many of my surgeries, Dr Hackett, and I did a preparation surgery last July to try to slow down the need for the replacement but also preparing other parts of my knee for the inevitable. But I got to the point where it was too much and my knee could not handle doing the things I love to do."
Her doctor did a Mako Robot assisted lateral unicompartmental replacement. (Side note: the Mako Robot costs a million dollars or more! Totally worth it for Vonn, but something of interest to us non-career skiers.) Put simply, the team cut off part of Vonn's bone and replaced it with titanium pieces.
The second photo in this slideshow shows Dr Roche and his team actually performing some of the work.
Vonn expressed gratitude for undergoing this procedure. "I hope this helps me lead the active life I’ve always wanted. Appreciate all of the well wishes. Means a lot to me. But don’t worry, this is just another bump in the road in my journey through life and you know I’ll be back up and running asap... can’t hold me down for long!"
We're sending healing vibes Lindsey Vonn's way. We're not worried though. She's right, you can't hold her down, and soon she'll be back to doing GOAT things on the hill, and off it.
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