My Hinge Health Member Story: John

“When I started with Hinge Health, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I started doing the exercises for my knees and wondered if this would be the answer. My goodness, it’s been more of the answer than I ever dared hope for. My orthopedic doctor said we’d put surgery on the back burner. Surgery isn’t on my back burner at all. I’ve taken that pot and emptied it in the sink!”

Meet John

John is a middle-aged man and former student-athlete who has been dealing with serious knee and leg pain since 2014. Gel and cortisone injections failed to offer John long-lasting relief and more than one orthopedic surgeon recommended full knee replacements for both legs.

In addition, John was diagnosed in 2018 with congestive heart failure. Exercise restrictions led to weight gain that exacerbated John’s knee pain. 

How pain impacted John’s life

When I played football, baseball, and basketball in school, my knees and ankles got injured quite a bit. In the Navy, I slipped on a ladder and fractured both my kneecaps. Since I got out of the military, I’ve worked in construction and other labor-intensive jobs which haven’t helped my knees. 

My knees hurt constantly. It was painful to walk up or down stairs, as well as to walk on ramps. 

On the job, I would break into a cold sweat if I had to climb up a ladder to change a ballast on a light. At night, I would lie down and feel my knees throb. It would take me an hour to get to sleep.

On a scale of 1 to 10, my pain was often an 11 or 12. Even on my best days, the pain was probably a 7. I knew I needed to do something about it. I felt like full knee replacement surgery was pretty extreme and I wanted to find an alternative.

John’s turning point

I wasn’t sure how to proceed with my knee pain, then I got a flier in the mail from Hinge Health about their program with the State of Florida. I truly didn’t know if it would manage the pain, but I thought any kind of help would be worth a try (and the State of Florida was paying for it).

About five or six weeks into the program, I saw a reduction in my pain. I began to notice that I didn’t feel any pain when I went to bed.

Now I also notice that on some days I don’t feel much pain at all. If I do, it’s maybe a 1 or 2 on a good day or a 4 or 5 on a bad day. I also have a lot fewer bad days. On most days, my knee pain is between a 0 and a 3. 

How Hinge Health helped

After I got my Hinge Health kit in the mail, I started doing the knee exercises every other day, first thing in the morning.

One day, I missed doing the exercises before work and instead did them at night before I went to bed. When I woke up in the morning, I felt even better because my knees had a chance to recuperate while I was sleeping.

Coach Stephanie has been super supportive the whole way. She is full of knowledge. Having a [health] coach harkens back to my younger days when I played sports and had all the support needed to guide me and put me in the best position for success. It’s been phenomenal.

Now I’ve started walking up and down short flights of steps at work instead of taking the elevator. Eventually, I think I’ll get to the longer flights of stairs.

I’m also much more active and tracking my steps each day. When I first started Hinge Health, a heavy day might have been 1,500 steps. Now I’m averaging 6,500 to 8,000 steps daily. 

Being able to walk without grimacing from knee pain all the time has been so great. I’m able to smile and say hi to people. That is something I wasn’t sure I’d ever do again and I really enjoy it. 

John’s advice

I work with a lot of older people and we all have our aches and pains. I tell them regularly about Hinge Health. If you make it a priority and stick with it, Hinge Health works. Once you feel the effects and see the gains you’re making, you’re inspired to keep up with it and you get where you want to go. 

Hinge Health has far exceeded any expectations I had for the program. The results I’ve gotten have been so phenomenal.

It’s given me a new lease on life. When you get rid of those aches and pains, life is pretty good.