The New York Times reported on cutting-edge sports medicine and scientific advancements that are helping athletes extend their careers, featuring Martin Roche, MD, knee replacement surgeon at HSS.

It's hard to sell pro athletes on a knee replacement. Olympic skiing champion Lindsey Vonn underwent a partial knee replacement in 2024 after years of chronic pain and multiple surgeries even after retiring from competition.

The robotic-arm-assisted technology used by Dr. Roche enabled him to scan her knee, remove the damaged bone in a minimally invasive way and then seal all the cracks and pockets with titanium implants. The robots keep getting more precise, and the titanium keeps getting more durable, but the real breakthrough was using the technique on a pro athlete in the first place. A few months later, during physical therapy, Vonn did a single-leg box jump on her right leg, and “I cried because I hadn’t done that in 10 years,” she said.

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