Hosted by orthopedic surgeon Matthew Sloan, MD, Director of Robotics in Orthopedic Surgery at Emerson Health in Concord, Massachusetts, this podcast helps patients understand hip and knee replacement surgery. Dr. Sloan interviews leading joint replacement surgeons about robotic surgery, implant technology, recovery, and how to choose the right surgeon. Clear, expert guidance for anyone considering joint replacement or looking to stay active and pain-free.
#55 - How Do You Know When It’s Really Time for Joint Replacement? Randall Schultz, MD
How do you know when it’s really time for a hip or knee replacement?
Dr. Matthew Sloan is joined by Dr. Randall Schultz, a board-certified orthopedic surgeon at Texas Orthopedics and creator of The Surgeon Unmasked. After more than three decades in orthopedic surgery and thousands of joint replacements, Dr. Schultz brings an especially unusual perspective to the conversation: he has also undergone a knee replacement himself.
Dr. Schultz shares what becoming a patient taught him about recovery, pain, expectations, and how difficult it can be to decide when surgery is finally necessary. He describes realizing that his own “world was shrinking” as arthritis gradually forced him to give up activities he valued.
They discuss:
• How to know when hip or knee arthritis is severe enough for surgery
• Whether you really need to be “bone on bone”
• Whether patients can wait too long for joint replacement
• Exercise, weight loss, cortisone, gel injections, PRP, and other nonsurgical options
• Partial versus total knee replacement
• How to choose a hip or knee replacement surgeon
• Whether surgeon volume matters
• Robotics versus computer navigation versus manual knee replacement
• Whether implant brands actually matter
• Anterior versus posterior hip replacement
• Subvastus and “minimally invasive” knee replacement approaches
• What knee replacement recovery actually feels like
• The role of the “quiet knee” approach after surgery
• Opioid-free joint replacement and realistic pain expectations
• What patients should understand before choosing surgery
Dr. Schultz also challenges some of the marketing surrounding modern joint replacement, arguing that technology and branded surgical approaches should not distract from the fundamentals: choosing the right patient, performing the operation well, and setting realistic expectations.
For patients considering hip or knee replacement, this episode offers the perspective of someone who has spent his career performing these operations — and has experienced knee replacement from the other side of the operating table.
Find Dr. Randall Schultz on YouTube at The Surgeon Unmasked and at TheSurgeonUnmasked.com.
Subscribe to The Joint Replacement Podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
29 Sept 2026
Can You Prevent Arthritis & Joint Replacement? with Jocelyn Wittstein, MD
What happens to a joint decades before someone needs a replacement—and can we change that trajectory?
Duke orthopedic sports medicine surgeon Dr. Jocelyn Wittstein joins Dr. Matthew Sloan to discuss ACL injuries, post-traumatic arthritis, menopause, osteoporosis, cartilage health, and strategies for maintaining healthy bones and joints throughout life.
They discuss why ACL reconstruction does not eliminate the risk of arthritis, the importance of the meniscus, whether running causes arthritis, how menopause affects cartilage and joint inflammation, when women should consider bone-density testing, and how resistance training, nutrition, and activity modification may help preserve musculoskeletal health.
They also explore treatment options for mild to moderate arthritis, including anti-inflammatory medications, PRP, viscosupplementation, supplements, and how patients can decide which activities are still worth doing when a joint becomes symptomatic.
A fascinating conversation about what happens long before joint replacement—and the rapidly evolving science of preventing or slowing the path toward it.
25 Sept 2026
Fares Haddad: Robotics, Partial Knee Replacement & the Future of Joint Replacement
Professor Fares Haddad joins The Joint Replacement Podcast to discuss how technology, robotics, and increasingly personalized surgical planning are changing hip and knee replacement.
We explore his career across arthroplasty, complex revision surgery, elite sports, research, and editorial leadership, and how his surgical philosophy has evolved toward three-dimensional planning, cruciate preservation, partial knee replacement, and functional alignment.
The centerpiece of the conversation is his recent randomized study of robotic-assisted versus conventional medial partial knee replacement. We discuss why partial knees may be particularly suited to robotics, improved implant positioning, differences in Forgotten Joint Score, criticisms of implant-to-implant comparisons, and whether increased precision is worth the added cost.
We also discuss the RACER trial, mechanical versus functional alignment, why precision alone may not improve outcomes if surgeons are aiming at the wrong target, and how predictive analytics could eventually help determine patient-specific implant positioning.
Finally, Professor Haddad shares his perspective as Editor-in-Chief of The Bone & Joint Journal on evaluating new evidence, answers whether robotic joint replacement is truly “better,” explains who may be a candidate for partial knee replacement, and describes why robotics may ultimately prove most valuable in complex hip and revision surgery.
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