PENDLETON — A local orthopedic surgeon recently got the chance to experience life from the other side of the bone saw.

Dr. Bradley Adams does knee and hip replacements for his patients at St. Anthony Hospital. In March, a specialized robot arrived to help him in the operating room. The Mako robotic arm uses a CT scan to create a 3D model of the patient’s anatomy to make precise adjustments during surgery. The surgeon cuts tissue and bone as the robot makes precise adjustments and allows for near-perfect placement and alignment of the prosthesis.

To become certified to use the million dollar robot, Adams traveled to Spokane, Washington, where he learned the technique from orthopedic surgeon Dr. Tim Lovell.

“I scrubbed into surgery and assisted him,” Adams said.

Adams also trained two days in Las Vegas, Nevada, using the robotic arm to perform about 10 joint replacement surgeries on cadavers.

The surgeon returned home ready to take his joint replacement surgery to the next level. However his first operation was scheduled in March on what became the first day of the COVID-19 shutdown. All elective surgeries, such as joint replacements, were postponed.

On June 1, he finally got rolling. Now, he does an average of three joint replacement surgeries each Monday. Adams has become a solid fan of the 900-pound, wheeled robot.

“We can cut within 0.4 millimeters,” he said. “So we can take as little bone and as little tissue as we have to. There’s faster recovery and less pain — an overall improved experience.”

Adams got to test that assertion when he had his own joint replacement surgery. Earlier this month, his mentor, Dr. Tim Lovell, performed a robot-assisted hip replacement on the Pendleton surgeon.

Hip pain had hampered Adams’ daily life.

“I’ve had hip arthritis for the past eight to 10 years,” he said. “It got to the point where I couldn’t get up on my equipment at the ranch. I was limping around at the hospital.”

“The ranch” refers to the acreage where he lives with wife Candi, just northeast of Pendleton. He runs 30 head of cattle and raises grass and alfalfa hay.

Adams realized he had a time slot in his schedule that would perfectly fit the surgery and recovery period. Adams, the medical director for the Pendleton Round-Up, had arranged to have time off for the rodeo the second and third weeks of September. Then, because of COVID-19, the event was canceled. Instead of scrubbing his days off, he opted for the hip replacement operation instead.

So, he checked in at Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane and prepped for hip surgery, observing the experience from another angle.

“It gives you a certain appreciation for what the patient is going through,” Adams said. “It’s definitely a different perspective.”

He was in and out the same day, though he stayed overnight in Spokane at his doctor’s request. Now he’s home, using crutches to get around and marveling at how little pain medication he needs.

He will take his new insights back to the surgery suite. Besides the robot, Adams’ team consists of his physician assistant, Kristin Schmidtgall, a scrub nurse who handles the instruments, and a product specialist who runs the computer.

Adams will have plenty of opportunity to use the robot as demand for joint replacements is revving up. The surgeon is booked solid through Christmas.

One estimate predicts that knee replacements will increase 189% by 2030, while hip replacements will rise 171%.

“Joint replacements are going to continue to increase as we go through the Baby Boomer generation,” Adams said. “It’s been an exponential increase over the last 10-15 years.”

He said he knows of no other Mako robots in surrounding communities yet, though Good Shepherd is in the process of getting one.

If you’re willing to wait a while, “you don’t have to go to Portland or Spokane to get this kind of technology,” he said. “We can do the same surgery they can.”