Mr Jonathan Webb featured in the Rugby Players Association ezine

Consultant Knee Surgeon and former England Rugby full back Jonathan was recently interviewed by the Rugby Players Association on his career, combining medical school and rugby and qualifying as a doctor while he was still playing for England.

As a team player, he was one of the founding members of the Fortius Clinic, launched in 2009 and now the UK’s largest single orthopaedic musculoskeletal group.

“Patients have the comfort of knowing they are seeing consultants who have great expertise but also a great ability to relate to people. You can’t work alone – sometimes somebody refers you a knee problem, but it turns out to be a hip problem. In a group like Fortius we’ve got experts in every area so whatever the problem is, there will be somebody here who is a specialist and is able to fix it.”

Personal experience of robotic knee replacement

He also shared his recent experience of undergoing a robotic total knee replacement, performed by two of his fellow colleagues. Jonathan tore his cartilage in a game for Bristol against London Irish over 20 years ago:

“I can remember the game. It was a very innocuous injury – a tackle and I twisted my knee. I felt the pain but did not think much about it and carried on playing. Then my knee started locking and jamming to the point where it locked completely and I couldn’t walk, never mind play rugby.”

As a result, he suffered from knee osteoarthritis for many years. It became so painful he wasn’t able to bend or straighten his knee properly – even sitting in a narrow seat at a sports stadium became a chore.

The surgery was a great success and Jonathan was able to straighten his knee the day after his procedure, something he’d not been able to do for years. After a couple of weeks’ intensive physio, Jonathan was playing golf with his son and was back at work full-time soon after.

“It’s now over 12 months and I am pretty much back to normal. I can push leg weights in the gym and hiking and cycling don’t cause me any problems. In summary having the surgery has changed my life!”

For more information on robotic knee replacement, call to arrange a consultation with Mr Jonathan Webb.