Dr. Richard L. Weiner, M.D.

On the show

“You don’t treat an X-ray, you treat the patient.”

Dr. Weiner, who has worked alongside Dave since 1990, spent much of the hour on how to keep people out of the operating room. He described a ladder of care that starts with conservative treatment and physical therapy and treats surgery as the last resort. On knee replacement, he puts it at over 40% of total knee patients who could have had a partial instead, against about 10% in the United States who actually get one, and he explained why a partial can feel more like a normal knee.

Background

• He earned a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science, then his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
• He completed his orthopaedic surgery residency at New Jersey Medical School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, in 1991.
• He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery and a Fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.
• At St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach he served as Chief of Orthopedic Trauma Surgery from 1993 to 2019.
• His practice profile notes that he uses the Oxford partial knee replacement and dual mobility total hip replacements.

Listen

Read the recap: Knee Pain: What to Try Before You Think About Surgery