'The One' - Bill Bielmyer's story
His first knee operation was in high school - a football injury. His second surgery was ten years later - a karate injury. Several months ago, doctors showed Bill Bielmyer the x-ray of his ailing left knee, and he saw the bone-on-bone osteoarthritis that was causing him the deep, aching, joint pain that was slowing this fitness enthusiast down to a crawl.
But when his doctor told him he needed total knee replacement surgery, Bill objected.
“I said, ‘Doc, I’m 64, I don’t want to go through another knee operation and have all these restrictions. Are there any other options?’”
"Knee replacement surgery is not an option!"
For a busy COO who has not only devoted his life to his family and career, but also to physical fitness, surgery was not an option. But he was in tremendous pain. Over the years he had to stop running. “I have always been very big on exercise, especially running. Finally, after all those years of trying to stay in shape, my knee just wore out,” he recalls. He even thought that he might have to give up the game he loves most: golf.
“Every other year my friends and I travel to Scotland to play the historic courses— Carnoustie, Kingsbarns and Royal Troon. But after my trip in 2008, I had to tell the guys that I was done. It was too painful.”
While playing golf, he tried to endure the pain by taking ibuprofen. Not just one or two pills. “Sometimes I’d play the front nine, and have to take five pills just to get through the back nine,” he says, sounding frustrated just thinking about how much he suffered.
The bone-on-bone pain of knee osteoarthrits: Trying to endure
“Years and years of taking over-the-counter medication with minimal relief and now this piece of fabric and metal, called the Unloader One®, has given me such relief.”
The pain wasn’t limited to his golf game, either. It was disrupting his every day life. “My wife loves to walk,” his voice cracks. “It was something we’d do together. But I was finding that I could only last a couple of hundred yards before I began limping, and would have to stop.”
Having fought the good fight, trying to endure the debilitating pain that’s been afflicting him for the past 20 years, he went to see orthopedic surgeon Kurt Blasser, MD, who practices at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. Dr. Blasser just happens to be one of Bill’s golfing buddies. However, while Bill was contemplating the words, “total knee replacement surgery,” he was paging through a brochure by Össur, one of the world’s leading knee bracing manufacturers that is dedicated to improving people’s mobility.
Then he spotted it. The Unloader One®, the clinically proven osteoarthritis knee brace that is low profile, comfortable, and gently separates the bones so they don’t grind together.
"I didn’t think a brace could help me with the type of pain I was feeling"
Bill nonchalantly asked his doctor about the knee brace that would eventually change his life. Dr. Blasser replied that he was having success with the Össur Unloader One® brace that helps to “unload” the knee joint and, thanks to Össur’s patented technology, is only half the weight of competitive braces.
“At first I was skeptical. I didn’t think a brace could help me with the type of pain I was feeling.” But Bill went ahead and filled the prescription and was fitted with Össur’s Unloader One® knee brace. A week later it arrived. Bill was amazed by how light it was, and that it fit easily under his slacks. He wore it for two days and then on the third day it happened. Bill and his wife went out for one of their walks. But instead of limping to a stop after a few hundred yards:
“I felt so good during the walk that I jogged a few steps in front of my wife. I thought, this really can’t be happening. There was no pain. We walked together for over an hour,” he remembers.
“Years and years of taking over-the-counter medication with minimal relief and now this piece of fabric and metal, called the Unloader One®, has given me such relief.”
“It’s changed my life. It’s been a miracle.”
“It’s as if I don’t have a bad knee any more. Everything got better. I was hitting the ball further than ever,”
Going for long walks again with his wife helped bring the couple closer together. No more watching in frustration as she walked ahead of him, while he bent over in pain. However, a leisurely stroll around a path with your wife is one thing. How would Össur’s Unloader One® hold up on the golf course? Would Bill be able to continue playing the game he loved?
“I went back to Scotland and I couldn’t believe it. It’s as if I don’t have a bad knee any more. Everything got better. I was hitting the ball further than ever,” he says excitedly.
The Aftermath: "I feel I'm 45 again"
It’s been seven months, many pain-free walks with his wife, and one golfing trip to Scotland with his mates since Bill first tried the Unloader One®, or “The One,” as he now affectionately refers to it. And he’s feeling fantastic. He wore it quite a lot early on, he says. But he’s found that now he only needs to wear it three-to-four times a week to obtain the same benefits.
“My knee feels like it is actually getting better.” he remembers telling his doctor at his last appointment.
“I turned 65 in August but feel like I’m 45 again. ‘The One’ has been a saving grace. It’s given me my life back.”