Doctor Podcast sits down with Elizabeth B. Gausden, MD, MPH, hip and knee surgeon at HSS, to discuss different surgical approaches to hip and knee surgery, and where she sees the field of orthopedics going in within the next ten years.

 Dr. Gausden discusses the anterior and posterior approaches to hip surgery as well as what activities patients can safely return to after hip surgery. “Traditionally we would really limit what people could get back to. Most of it was concerned about fracture or implant failure, but now we are really becoming much more aggressive about what we are letting people get back to.” “If you’re a runner, and it’s something that brings you joy and it’s your passion, is it the best exercise on your hip replacement? Probably not, but I’m okay with you getting back to it in smaller doses,” Dr. Gausden explained.

Dr. Gausden explains the traction that robotic surgery has gained in recent years. One thing we haven’t shown yet is that the clinical outcomes are superior. We are working on that. We do know that a robot when added to a surgery does add precision compared to manual instrumentation.”

“Its an exciting time. The addition of robotics has made it easy to collect data on a large scale. Collecting additional data from each case and add that in with post operative data. There’s more wearables that people are using after surgery, so their watch is collecting data. Their phone might be collecting data. They may have censors around their knee or hip collecting data. It’s going to be really exciting to see if those things can help us do a better job of their hip or knee replacement and minimize the risk of complications. Its already low, but we want it to get even lower and optimizing the outcome in the recovery,” explained Dr. Gausden.  

Watch the full interview at youtube.com.