SARASOTA, Fla. — From everyday smartphones to smart TVs and smart cars, technological advancements keep developing to improve our daily lives.
The medical field is not left out with the invention of the 'Smart Knee' which is one of the latest innovations in orthopedic surgery that has arrived at at least one hospital in the Tampa Bay area.
The technology is giving one Sarasota veteran a new lease on his active life.
"I was in the infantry, the airborne infantry, and the straight leg infantry, and the mechanized infantry. So that means you have to be a leader of men and they have to follow you," James Myers, a veteran from Lakewood Ranch, said.
For the 68-year-old Army veteran who just recently had a knee replacement, life looks very different now after he spent what he described as 21 grueling years in the US Army.
"We did plenty of road marches, 25 miles with heavy backpacks on your back. You would jump out of planes, jump out of helicopters," Myers said.
Even after leaving the force and going into civilian life working with the U.S. government, he remained active and indulged in various athletics and recreation. But one of his worst fears happened while on a visit to Alaska with his wife last summer.
"We were hiking up and my knee popped. Coming home, I just really felt the pain in my knees and I told my wife I needed to see a doctor," Myers said.
Seeking help and treatment for his injury, Myers was connected with Dr. John Thomas, an orthopedic surgeon at HCA Florida Sarasota Doctors Hospital.
Instead of a standard knee replacement surgery, Dr. Thomas replaced Myers with a device now called the "Smart Knee."
"We call it the Smart implant, the implant is very small 30 mm and we're working on making one even smaller," Dr. Thomas said.
Under the brand name Persona IQ, the knee implant was developed by the company Zimmer Biomet and includes a sensor built into its stem. The implant allows approved medical staff to track the patient's movements including their steps and the mechanics of their movement.
The device, the first of its kind according to Dr. Thomas, works with a phone app, to send back data collected based on the patient's movements.
The devices essentially provide physicians with reliable real-time information and help make patient's recovery more precise and personalized.
"Letting patients know whether they're doing a good job whether they're falling into the same recovery curve as their peers and it's helping us identify patients who are having a hard time and intervene and fix that problem before it becomes a big issue," Dr. Thomas said.
Along with the personalized activity instructions generated for him by the smart knee through the app and physical therapy, Myers said his knee pain has become nearly non-existent.
"The pain in my knee has gone from a one to a ten. The quality of life is just unbelievable," said Myers.
With his new knee, Myers said he's now looking forward to a new life filled with all the activities he used to enjoy before his injury.
"In my mind, I'll be able to walk 3 miles with no issues, ride my bike for maybe 10 or 15 maybe 20, and then I take a swim for I don't know maybe for an hour," Myers said.
He said if he was given another chance he would certainly not hesitate to relive his activities while in the military.
"I would jump again you know because I was young and I was all excited. If I ever need a second knee I know where to come that's for sure," Myers said.
Dr. Thomas allayed concerns about potential privacy issues saying the device does not work like a tracker. The "Smart Knee" implant is also FDA-approved and shares patient's movement data only with the patient's doctors over 10 years.