You're as young as you feel, the saying goes. These days, Dr. Gabe Garber, 70, has a youthful spring to his step, thanks to double knee replacement surgery and a brief two-week stay at St. Lawrence Rehabilitation Center.

An avid doubles tennis player, Dr. Gabe had been feeling his knees deteriorate over a period of six years. He put on Velcro knee braces and injected Synvisc and cortisone into his knees. By March, the retired orthodontist opted for surgery.“I finally got to the point I couldn’t walk. The day before surgery, I couldn’t walk a block,” he recalls.

Five days after surgery in New York City, Dr. Gabe arrived by ambulance at St. Lawrence Rehabilitation Center. Eight weeks later, he set off on a 50-block stroll around Manhattan. Two weeks after that, he was lobbing balls on the tennis court.

Dr. Gabe chose St. Lawrence because of its excellent reputation and its proximity to his home in Yardley, Pa. As an inpatient, he worked daily with his two therapists, Sharon Miller and Lisa Wilmot, on stretching, strengthening exercises and range of motion in his knees. He would then spend several hours with his legs in a state-of-the-art Constant Passive Motion (CPM) machine, which slowly moves the legs to further improve the range of motion.

The secret to successful rehab

“The secret to successful rehab, besides a good surgeon, is being able to carry on exercises faithfully,” Dr. Gabe says. “If you don’t do it faithfully, you don’t have a good result. My physical and occupational therapists were terrific. Both of them had a good sense of humor. They wouldn’t let me slack off.”

Like Dr. Gabe, about half of the inpatients at St. Lawrence are treated for orthopedic conditions such as knee and hip replacements, auto accident injuries, hip fractures or compression fractures of the spine. Daily treatment includes physical therapy, occupational therapy, pain management and monitoring of medical status. Dr. Gabe’s determination and upbeat attitude reflect the ambiance at St. Lawrence, says medical director Kevin McGuigan, MD.

“The atmosphere here is optimistic and hopeful, and people sense that. Our goal is basically to help patients get strong and medically stable enough to return to their home setting,” says Dr. McGuigan. “I believe we are the premiere rehab center in the area. We have a group of people who are proud of the work they do, and our patients are satisfied; their survey responses are very positive.”

Dr. Gabe agrees. “The staff was pleasant and attentive, with a sense of humor, yet firm and kind. It was a very positive experience.”