Dropping from a helicopter on skis to a mountain side blanketed with powder white snow ahead of him, it would appear David Thompson’s hunger for life seems to be fed by his desire to move.

Between the hundreds of miles he can bike in a week and his passion for heliskiing, the Burr Ridge resident realized his left knee was not keeping up with the rest of his body.

“The worst part was the pain. And if you don’t get it properly fixed, then that pain can transfer to other area of the leg, creating new injuries,” Thompson said in a press release.

Thompson, 63, began researching knee replacement options and what he found was an operation that would ultimately save his love for living. On Feb. 18, Thompson received the first mobile knee replacement surgery in the United States by a doctor who shared the same hobby.

Dr. Mitchell Sheinkop, orthopedic surgeon at the Neurologic and Orthopedic Hospital of Chicago, became familiar with the mobile knee procedure in 2001 when he was a practicing surgery in the Middle East. When testing and research of the mobile knee began in the U.S. in 2003, Sheinkop joined a team of doctors studying the prostheses.

With a more natural feel for patients, the mobile knee can offer up to 135 degrees of flexion motion. As a fellow athlete and 25-year heliskier, Sheinkop could relate to Thompson’s requirement for full mobility.

“He decided he needed to find out if there was anything that would allow him to get him back to the recreational lifestyle he wanted to enjoy. I think I have given him that opportunity,” Sheinkop said.

Three days after the mobile bearing knee was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Thompson was laying on Sheinkop’s operating table to be the first to undergo the procedure.

“David is the perfect example of an amateur athlete who, in his physical demands of high level biking and ultimate skiing, would require the type of motion afforded by this mobile bearing knee,” Sheinkop said.

By combining the mobile bearing knee with the minimally invasive incision, the prosthetic knee recommended for Thompson was the only option that could handle his active hobbies, said Sheinkop.

Performing hundreds of mobile knee surgeries in the Middle East and 52 in the U.S., Sheinkop said the incision is the same as that of the popular fixed bearing knee. However, by using minimal invasive technology results in less pain, minimal blood loss and quicker recovery times.

Bike riding just 10 days after surgery, Thompson’s recovery was atypical for most, said Sheinkop, but his high conditioning level made for a more rapid recovery, giving him the chance to continue his post-surgical hobbies.

“Without it, I wouldn’t be able to keep doing what I love,” Thompson said in the release.
Thompson declined an interview with Suburban Life.