Patient Testimonials

With this knee surgery by Dr. Knowlan; I have been able to work out again without my knee going numb/giving out.

Four years ago, I had a knee that kept randomly popping out of the socket. I visited many doctors and had many x-rays. I finally had a referal to Dr. Sanders, who ordered an MRI and found the issue very quick. I was only 25 and normally a total knee replacement would’ve been done. But with me being so young, he wanted to avoid a replacement. Instead, he did a total knee reconstruction. The surgery went perfect and my life has improved so much! I never have to worry about standing and having my knee pop out or going up stairs or anything. I no longer have pain in my knee and I can do normal every day activities that I had to be cautious of before my knee reconstruction!

My sophomore year, I was going to be the starting varsity catcher on my high school baseball team. One game, midway into the season, I caught a ball wrong and it tore a ligament in my thumb. Lauren (TCO Physical Therapist) assessed my injury correctly and I ended up not having surgery and resting it in a removable cast. I spent the rest of that high school season resting it, doing some rehab, and trying to get it back to full health. During the summer ball season, I went back to pitching with the removable cast on. Towards the end of the season I got back to light bullpen catching, due to the rehab I did with Lauren.

When I played Fall baseball this year, I went back to catching in games. Unfortunately, I took a foul tip to the glove and it did the same thing to my thumb as before. This time Lauren recommended that I get surgery to fully repair the ligaments. I ended up talking to the surgeon and we ended up going through with the surgery. Throughout the post-surgery experience, I would meet with Lauren and we would talk about my condition both mentally and physically. After I finally got my cast off, the doctor was talking to me about not playing basketball ever again in order to keep my thumb safe for baseball. This was a really hard decision for me because, although baseball is my favorite sport and it’s the sport I hope to pursue playing in college, I still love basketball.

Lauren and I talked it through and she supported my decision to play basketball and that I wouldn’t get hurt if we continued to do the rehab that we had started doing. We continued doing the exercises until the basketball season started and we also played around with tape techniques. This season I was successful in playing varsity basketball for my high school and remaining injury free. While I played basketball injury free, the doctors are still unsure of how safe catching will be for my thumb and the longevity of my career. But overall, I had a great experience at TCO. They helped me through the entire process and I thank them so much.

I underwent a procedure to my right wrist and had put it off for 9 months. I finally went to see Dr. Meletiou due to a referral form for worker compensation claim. The WC rep highly recommended Dr. Meletiou and said that he does remarkable work. My procedure went well and I experienced ZERO pain afterwards due to the great work he did. Thank you Dr. Meletiou!

I was injured during a family rollerskating event on New Year’s Eve 2018. I fell from a piece of metal abruptly catching my rollerskate. I was in excruciating pain, unable to walk without extensive pain, and our lives were changed for the unknown ahead of us. As we anticipated the outcome and uncertainty to find out what my injury was, TCO was amazing on every step of the way from my diagnosis of injury, surgery and recovery. All 3 of my hamstring muscles were torn off my pelvic bone and needed to be surgically screwed to my pelvic bone for proper healing to occur. I had been working at the school in our district and could no longer do anything except lay on my back at home.

Dr. Barry and Rebecca Muson, PA treated me very well and did everything necessary to get things rolling quickly and efficiently. The aftercare was inspiring as I continued to heal, which included a card, and follow-up calls. Not only did they work with me, but they also involved my husband in the recovery as I was no longer able to be the active wife/mother of 4 that I was. This injury was a huge lifestyle change within our household, but TCO gave us skills and tools to make the healing/recovery as manageable as possible. I am now 3 months out from my surgery and am seeing the benefits that TCO provided with their care. I am able to walk now with physical therapists helping me every week and I can almost sit without severe pain.

I would like to thank all of the staff at TCO Blaine for the excellent care they provided to me and my family. TCO will be my recommended choice for friends or family in need of orthopedic care. Thank you for everything Twin Cities Orthopedics!!!

I had cervical disc C6 & 7 disc replacement surgery January 29th 2019 . Prior to meeting Dr. Deal and his team, I had previously spent 7 painful months participating in non-surgical treatments in hopes of relieving a herniated disc. Dr. Deal is superior and his team is outstanding! Immediately after surgery, the pain in my arm and fingers were gone. 3-4 days after surgery, I was off pain medication for the first time in months! The entire experience exceeded my expectations! The knowledge and skill of Dr. Deal and the kindness of the staff were so comforting. The accommodations were VIP at the surgery center. I hope everyone who needs assistance with their spine issues has the same experience I have. Unfortunately, we don’t always have the same surgical results but the experience at Twin Cities Orthopedics is second to none.

I am a sophomore at St. Catherine’s University and I play basketball there. This past year, on Oct. 30th, we were having a practice. It was the last stretch of practices before games finally started and we had a scrimmage 4 days later. During practice, I cut and I stepped on my teammates foot and ending up perfectly tearing my ACL, MCL, and partial tears in my medial and lateral meniscus. I had surgery one week later and now I am 20 weeks post-op. I plan to be ready for basketball this next coming season.

I loved having Braidy as my PT, he continues to push me everyday no matter on what my mood is. He has put up with a lot! Going through this experience has been eye opening and I have learned so much about myself and the game of basketball. I got to learn the game of basketball so differently this year. I also got to help lead my teammates from the sideline this year and teach them more about basketball. I still have a couple months to go but I am determined as ever to get back. This would not be possible without all the support that the staff at the Training Haus has provided me. This experience has made me grow as a person and I would not trade it for anything.

I’m a 17 year old alpine ski racer. I live for the speed and adrenaline rush of the sport. I’m always looking for ways to push myself on and off the slopes. As many ski racers know, with the speed comes great risk and possibility of injury. Skiing is all I have ever known and ever since my very first race practice I have never wanted to get off the slopes. I’ve never been afraid of the speed; in fact, I seek it out.

I’ve never had any injuries that really scared me. Growing up, it seemed like injuries happened. They’d heal and you would move on and forget about them soon after. Injuries didn’t phase me. Like when I broke my wrist, it was as simple as getting a waterproof cast so I could continue competing in triathlons.

I started to really ramp up my skiing at the end of the 2016-17 season and gained a considerable amount of momentum with my results. I received multiple scholarships that gave me opportunities to pursue my goals and take my skiing to the next level. I was racing Super G and Downhill at the Rocky Central Junior Championships in Vail where I was skiing 70 mph and over jumps, eventually finding out I was skiing with a broken wrist. I was at a point in my ski career where everything had been going right. I had tremendous opportunities and a lot of support which was a necessity to stay in this expensive sport.

In the fall of 2017, I attended a training camp at Vail Mountain on a scholarship. Toward the end of the camp, I fell training GS and broke my thumb and sustained a concussion. When I got back to Minnesota, I found out that I was going to need surgery to fix my thumb, which was done by Dr. McCarthy. It was my first surgery and the first injury that really phased me. I was forced to take a month off of skiing, which for me was a very difficult thought to come to terms with.

A month later, despite still having pins sticking out of my hand and the bulkiest cast I’ve ever seen, I was back on the slopes. I had to take it super easy but still enjoyed every second of it. My second day back skiing was the day after Christmas. It was at an alumni race for my high school ski team. I decided to forerun the course. The first run felt amazing, I couldn’t have been happier to be back skiing. I felt invincible as I stood in the starting gate, with no fear. I thought, if a broken thumb couldn’t stop me nothing would,’ and pushed out of the start gate another time. The next thing I knew I had crashed and was sliding down the hill on my side and tried to stand up as I was still sliding. My knee popped as I tried to come to a stop and my stomach instantly dropped. I got up but fell again as my knee must have given out. The second I started to fall I bounced back up and skied the rest of the way down on one ski. I smiled at the parents and coaches in the finish and pushed myself over to the chalet as if nothing happened.

It was a struggle getting out of my skis but I managed to get a friend, who wasn’t aware of what happened, to help me out. I used my poles to hobble to the comp center but fell to the ground when my knee gave out again. I hopped up the stairs on one leg and sat down. I was terrified. My friend began to suspect something was wrong – but I froze and refused to admit I had hurt my knee. I sat for what felt like hours bending my knee and convincing myself I was overreacting – and thinking the pop I heard I must have made up in my head. I decided I was perfectly fine to go back out to ski. I stood up and took about a step and a half before my knee gave out and I fell to the floor. I tried standing a couple more times that night and every time my knee would give out with even the very slightest pressure.

It was difficult calling my parents and admitting that I was hurt. I remember walking in my front door late that night and seeing my mom’s face which made everything start to sink in. The next morning I was being wheeled into TCO. It eased my mind talking to doctors and was headed off for an MRI then home on crutches. A day or two later I heard my mom’s phone ring. I was upstairs and could only make out a little bit of the conversation. After trying to figure out what my mom and the doctor were talking about my dad came to the bottom of the stairs and told me that I had a complete tear of my ACL. I was in total disbelief. The impact this would have on the next year of my life did not set in right away. After talking on the phone with the doctors I realized this was not an injury where I could just sit back and wait until it was healed. I could no longer focus my energy on skiing and had to try my best to redirect it all to physical therapy. I began setting rehab goals where I typically wrote my skiing goals.

The transition from being very active and not letting injuries stop me was taken out of my control. This injury had a lot of power over me which was tough to come to terms with. I felt really lost right after the injury and unsure of what the future would hold. This is where my TCO champion comes in, Brandon Schomberg; my physical therapist. He was very reassuring right from the start. It was very clear to me he knew exactly what to do and I could trust him and would not be alone on the journey. Brandon guided me to take back control over this injury and regain the power to decide the outcome. On January 12th, 2018 I had surgery, done by Dr. Christopher Larson. By then I was just happy to get started on my recovery and get back to what I love. From the second I woke up, I was anxious to start rehab and start my journey getting back in the start gate.

I quickly realized how difficult the next year would be, and whether or not I wanted to admit how injured I was. Brandon broke everything down into manageable steps and celebrated every little accomplishment along the way. His positive attitude and reassurance motivated me in a way no one else could have done. Soon, I began gaining momentum with rehab and enjoyed going and continuing setting goals. Brandon made the whole recovery fun and interesting and taught me a lot. I learned a lot about myself throughout the process and that I was capable of so much more than I had thought. Physical therapy became a place of discovery, not just where I did my exercises. Brandon encouraged me to be my best in every aspect of my life, from school to sports, to in the community. He also made sure I was having fun especially through the difficult times throughout my recovery. I came to know the Eden Prairie location very well, I felt welcomed at every appointment. I went into my first appointment for my knee expecting it to be a long and lonely process to get back skiing. I never expected to be embraced by so many people who were so invested in my recovery and wellness – they all felt like family.

After 10 months of lots of hard work and dreaming of skiing, I was finally able to get back to what I love. It was nerve-racking knowing the day I had been waiting for had finally come. I was scared to know what it would feel like being back on snow, especially considering it may never feel the same as it did before the injury. I had total confidence in my knee being strong but there was still so much unknown. Having a team of specialists surrounding me, who told me I was ready, allowed me to have confidence in myself in an area where I didn’t know what to expect. The ACE program and testing at the Training HAUS were critical to tracking my progress and determining when I was ready to return to skiing. I was always guided through the challenging and scary parts of my recovery by people I fully trusted, so I knew if they said I was ready, I was ready. Their confidence gave me confidence and empowered me to believe in myself. By the time I was on the chairlift, I had no worries, just excitement. By my second run, I felt like I was just where I left off the previous year and stronger than ever. Everything came back so naturally, it was the most rewarding feeling ever. Every time I got to go skiing after that felt like a gift I was incredibly grateful for. Even when I wasn’t able to get back in the race course I was overjoyed.

Every aspect of getting back to skiing went better than I could have ever imagined. My knee felt strong and as if nothing ever happened. My confidence freeskiing carried into the race course as well. Just 4 days shy of the one year anniversary of my surgery I got back into the starting gate for my first race back. Not only did I have full confidence in my knee but I won the race, exceeding my highest expectations. Every week on snow I accomplished things I had no idea if I’d ever get back to. The season just kept getting better. Throughout my whole recovery, there were two races I had my eyes on – sections and state. Not only was I looking forward to being there myself, but I was looking forward to being there with my team. One of the most challenging parts of the year off was not being on the hill with my team. Sections and State served as a time to celebrate and look back on my season with my teammate and enjoy how far I had come. I came in 2nd place and our team won the Section title, qualifying for State. At State, I came in 11th place and my team came in 3rd. It was the most amazing feeling to stand in the start gate at State without even thinking about my knee. It was so rewarding to have a result at State that represented all the work I had put into the past year and all the support from Dr. Larson, Brandon and the whole TCO team that made it possible.

I have had a rather tough two years. Around April 2017, I started to experience intense pain in my right flute and hamstring when running and bending. I tried to play baseball/softball and run like I normally did, but I struggled severely. I was able to get an appointment with Dr. Hess at TCO Maple Grove, where he took an x-ray of my right hip. He told me right away that my right hip has severe arthritis, and that I would likely need a replacement. He referred me immediately to Dr. Brian O’Neill, who discussed my options. They treated me for a few months with steroid injections, which helped to get me through the next year or so, but eventually, the pain became unbearable (to the point where I could hardly field a ground ball, or even tie my shoes). Dr. O’Neill performed a right hip replacement for me in September 2018, and I shockingly walked out the hospital the next day with the aid of a cane. The nursing staff at the rehab facility in Plymouth, where I had my surgery, were absolutely incredible as well. I was in very little pain throughout the entire time, from surgery through all of my follow-up visits. Since then, I have been able to return to baseball/softball, my rec hockey league, and I am able to bend down to pick up my niece and play with her again. They changed my life for the better, allowing me to be able to return to the activities I love. I cannot thank them enough.

In 2015, my sophomore year of college, I was the starting goalkeeper for the Gustavus women’s soccer program when I took a knee to my hip in the beginning of the second half. I had sustained a hip pointer injury, but continued to play the following 35 minutes and overtime, in addition another 35 minutes of double overtime. After that, I played another full game and double overtime to end the season.

I took 2 weeks off from working out and felt able to workout again, however I battled hip pain off and on for another 8 months before seeing another doctor. After getting an MRI, it was confirmed that I had a left femoral acetabular impingement and a complex labral tear. I was referred to Dr. Larson, who assured me that all of my symptoms; pain in my joint, clicking, pinching, clenching and a shooting pain from my hips, down my leg, and up my abdomen was normal for the injury. We talked about alternative treatments but had decided surgery was my only option.

In August of 2016, I went into the OR and had a FAI decompression and labral repair and debreidment. In the same month I began physical therapy. I sat out my junior year of soccer at Gustavus but supported my teammates as they won the conference and went to the national tournament. I got strong enough and was cleared to return to play my senior year, but my heart was no longer in it and, although I completed the season, I did not have joy for the sport and I still had fear of taking a hard hit. I did not feel I had a proper comeback and I did not feel I overcame my surgery. I decided after graduation, passing my Nursing boards, and training in at the Mayo Clinic, that running a marathon would be my comeback. And that’s when I began training.

I had my 3 year check in with Dr. Larson at the new Vikings clinic just months before I was scheduled for my race. He assured me that my scans and physical assessment looked great and that running is a better choice for me. We talked about how the side to side motion and constant position changes was not good for my hip, and that a continuous forward motion like running would be better for my hip and my lifestyle.

I then ran the San Francisco half marathon in under 2 hours, continued my training, and ran the Twin Cities Marathon in 4 hours and 15 minutes without any hip pain. I plan on running many more marathons and half marathons in my future. I am signed up for a half marathon this August on the 4 year anniversary of my surgery. Celebrating 4 years without hip pain thanks to Dr. Larson, his amazing team, and his perfected recovery/rehab program.