Mr Andrew Carrothers

Written by a private patient at Nuffield Hospital Cambridge

What I discovered (and wish I’d known) 5 weeks and 4 days after my total knee replacement op. 1. My part in my TKR is a part time job, but it affects my mobility and the rest of my quality of life. Worth a lot of effort. I’m streets ahead of many people who had their TKR before me. I’ve been massively motivated by wanting to get my life back, wanting to look after my grandchildren and garden, walk miles across the fields. It’s good to think about your TKR in terms of you needing to prioritise your part in its success with lots of effort and physiotherapy. You can help yourself a lot. 2. PHYSIOTHERAPY AND LARGE EXERCISE BALLS - the TKR is the first part of regaining movement. The second part (physiotherapy) is equally vital and only you can do it. Exercises to straighten and bend your knee, exercises to rebuild the neural pathways so you can walk properly and others to help you balance. All this 3 times a day, plus walking twice a day, increasing your distance, stride and confidence. Use ice packs and pain relief to ease pain and reduce swelling. When you can’t initially do an exercise bearing weight, do it without full weight. Sitting on a big exercise ball and rolling it back and forth is less painful and very effective at achieving an improvement in bending your knee and less painful than bending and holding in pain. If you don’t do the (sometimes painful) work to increase flexion beyond a right angle, you won’t be able to kneel. Start with many gentle quick repetitions and build to slower ones. 3. CRUTCHES: crutches are helpful, until they’re not. Using crutches helps to get going, but you’ll not proceed past a certain point until you give up the crutches. First give them up in the house then outside. You legs and knees are working differently when you’re on crutches - 100% different in my case. I felt unsteady and thought I needed crutches BUT it was only when I gave them up my walking asymmetry started to return to normal and my balance improved. 4. HEALTH APPS My smartphone gives me Apple Health free. Look on your phone if you can or install a health app. Apple Health has a section ‘Show all health data’ this gives really useful daily information on several relevant functions such as walking symmetry, double support time and step length. You can track your progress daily. 5. MUSCLES MAKING A FUSS - ‘WHERE ARE OUR BONES?’ Rebuilding neural pathways. I had a few hours immediately after my replacement when my knee muscles went into strong, involuntary and painful spasm. Nearest analogy - like the end of the first stage of labour in childbirth. It hurts a lot and it passes. Most people don’t get it. I understood later it was my muscles and neural pathways panicking. Effectively they’re in spasm as they look to re-establish the link between brain and bone. The old neural pathways have been severed and must re-connect so the knee works again. It’s hard work. Part of the essential Physiotherapy.

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Written by a private patient at Nuffield Hospital Cambridge

I had a total hip replacement eight weeks ago, under the care of Mr Andrew Carrothers at the Nuffield hospital. I can absolutely recommend him and his team. I was apprehensive as I am 74 and have other health issues but Mr Carrothers took time to explain everything and was so kind and helpful. Dr Maroof the anaesthetist who cared for me was extremely thorough and put me at ease and I was happy to go ahead. The first two weeks were tiring but I am now pain free and recovering well. I am so pleased that I went to Mr Carrothers, I definitely made the right decision to go to him.

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Written by a private patient at Nuffield Hospital Cambridge

I underwent an arthroscopy in Oct23 following unsuccessful physio and knee injection a couple of months before. Although Mr Carrothers had some reticence performing what could have been an unnecessary arthroscopy, he listened to my concerns thoroughly and we had a very open and mutually respectful discussion on the potential risks and benefits before agreeing to the procedure. Day 2 after the arthroscopy I was able to get up and down stairs without crutches and the operation as a complete success. Having been under the care of many different consultants in the past, I can honestly say Mr Carrothers genuinely cared, was happy to answer any questions and was open and honest. He listened every step of the way and not once came across as sanctimonious or unapproachable. I would thoroughly recommend Mr Carrothers as a very professional and empathetic consultant who clearly has a fabulous reputation for very obvious reasons.

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Written by a private patient at Spire Cambridge Lea Hospital

I had a partial knee replacement in September 2022 undertaken by Mr Carrothers. Throughout the process and procedure, Mr Carrothers gave me great confidence and exceptional care. By early 2023, I was back playing golf, in May 2023 I was able to complete the last leg of my Coast-to Coast walk and in October 2023, I was able to hike to the top of Sca Fell, England’s second highest peak. From being in pain with my knee after any exertion, I am now fully fit again. All that said, to achieve this requires considerable effort in terms of rehabilitation exercise but I am absolutely delighted with the care I received from Mr Carrothers and the end result.

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Written by a private patient at Spire Cambridge Lea Hospital

I underwent a total right hip replacement in July 2023 at the Spire Hospital in Cambridge under the care of Mr Carrothers. This was obviously very stressful for a number of reasons including the fact that I have never had a major operation before. Throughout the whole process Mr Carrothers, and his support team, were very professional and reassuring and consequently made the experience as stress free as possible. The operation was explained in detail at our initial consultation and all my questions were answered satisfactorily. On the day of the operation I was again taken through the operation detail including the recovery time and how I would feel immediately after the operation and over the following few days and weeks. This was a great help and very reassuring. It is now 8 weeks since my operation and I am completely pain free and have been for about 6 weeks. I have returned to playing golf and I am walking without a limp. We are also planning a ski trip for Christmas which I am greatly looking forward to. I would wholeheartedly recommend Mr Carrothers, his team and the team at the Spire Hospital in Cambridge, including the physio team who looked after me post operation.

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