Joint surgeries on the rise in baby boomers - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

Baby boomers are seeking surgical fixes in record numbers for their aching bones and joints. Knee replacements have doubled over the last decade and new research shows hips are trending that way, too.

Every morning, Karen White is in therapy and in just weeks, she is already seeing results.

"I've felt that I was fairly agile, especially for my age, but now I see the growth I've made, like for example, raising this sore leg. I couldn't have anymore done that a week ago and rehab has done that for me," White said.

She is working so hard in rehab, because she wants to come back to her garden. It was just weeks ago that she was planting tomato plants, but when she fell down, she was hurt so bad that even though the door was nearby, she couldn't get up herself to get help. It was later in the emergency room that she learned that she had broken her hip.

"They said it was broke, that I did a number on it," White said.

For Karen, the hip replacement was unplanned, but her doctors instructions were laid out, sharing that Karen's odds of successful recovery would increase exponentially if she went to rehab. After surgery, Karen moved into the short-term nursing facilities at Riverwalk Village in Noblesville.

"What we see if people choose not to do rehab is that they may go home for a few days and then something happens and their family can't take care of them, or they fall again and have injuries and have to come someplace anyway," said Rehab Services Manager Jennifer Jackson. "I think that so many people have a misconceived notion that when they enter a skilled nursing facility, they're going to stay here."

But Karen's stay is best measured in weeks and while there, her whole body gets a workout.

"When somebody hurts their hip or their knee and has a total hip or a total knee replacement, you rely on your arms a lot more than you think you do. People are so used to using their legs to do things and when you have one side that's injured, you realize you rely on a lot of other body parts to compensate for that," Jackson said.

It's hard work, but Karen's up to it. Her goal is to be back home long before the tomatoes are ready.

"I want to be functional. I want to be able to do it on my own, I want to be able to do things I want to do," she said.

You can learn more about joint replacement in seniors this Saturday at our WTHR-American Senior Communities Health Fair, from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. at OrthoINDY South in Greenwood.