Patient Spotlight
If you suffer from chronic knee pain and think that your best days are behind you, think again.
Meet Jane Rau, an active and determined 92-year-old Arizona resident who overcame debilitating knee pain with the help of Arrowhead Health Centers.
Jane’s Story
Describing Jane as amazing is an understatement. The fact that she remains active and bikes five miles every day is incredible enough, but her story is even more inspiring than that.
Jane has spent her life as an advocate of the desert, first fighting in the early 1980’s to protect it from developers and now as a lifetime Board member of the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy.
Thanks to her efforts and the efforts of hundreds of other volunteers, Scottsdale’s McDowell Sonoran Conservancy is the largest urban preserve in the Americas and one of the richest ecological regions in the Valley.
As a master steward and co-founder of the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy Jane is one of the most dedicated and valued volunteers. It is because of her unyielding tenacity that the Preserve exists and even in her golden years, Jane has no plans of slowing down.
Preserving Her Health
Jane’s spirit for advocacy translates into every aspect of her life, from preserving the desert to preserving her health. In recent years, Jane’s ability to continue her work with the Preserve was threatened. As an adult, Jane was diagnosed with OsteoArthritis, a degenerative joint diseases affecting 27 million Americans that causes pain, inflammation and stiffness in the knee, hip and back joints. Since then, Jane has tried many knee pain treatments, but none have given her lasting relief…until she visited Arrowhead Health Centers.
A Solution to Jane’s Health Problems
With the help of her team at Arrowhead Health Centers, Jane was able to get back on her feet after living with debilitating OsteoArthritis pain. Through a series of functional strength training exercises, a tailor-made Recovery Game Plan and lubricating HA (hyaluronic acid) injections, Jane is able to carry on with her life’s work and continue strengthening and protecting the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy.
“It’s a wonderful feeling to be able to keep up with my master steward duties in the Preserve again. I’m back to digging, planting, mitigating trails, teaching people about the desert and working on all sorts of projects. And that’s important for the preserve,” Jane says.
For others experiencing knee pain, Jane’s advice is simple: “Go and get answers at Arrowhead Health Centers. They have evolved a system that really works.”
If you have spent years suffering from OsteoArthritis like Jane, consider Arrowhead’s OsteoArthritis of the Knee Program, a knee pain treatment program proven to deliver relief and ease pain.
Call our office at 623-334-4000, extension 9 to schedule an appointment and get on the road to recovery and back to living life at full speed just like Jane.
*Content originally appeared in Healthstyle Magazine Summer 2014 issue; modified for this blog