A St. Louis orthopedic clinic opened a location in Columbia some time ago, offering Monroe County residents bone, joint and muscle care that, for at least one Waterloo woman, has been life changing.

Judy Mueth lives just outside of Waterloo and, according to her, she hasn’t exactly strived to go easy on her body over the years.

“I’m 58 years old, and all my life I’ve always been very active,” Mueth said. “Sports, you name it.”

Her athletic background largely includes time working as a personal trainer, though she’s now retired but still occasionally works with friends.

Beyond that, her hobbies involve weight training and other bodybuilding exercises as well as summer aquatic sports like swimming and wakesurfing.

While she’s certainly lived life to the fullest, all that exercise wound up putting some serious strain on her body, with a torn meniscus in her 30s and other major knee issues starting when she was around 40.

Mueth described the long process of seeing multiple doctors and specialists over the years, with the reduced and damaged cartilage in her knee leading to discussions of partial or full replacements and other procedures.

Sometime after one procedure that helped but didn’t entirely fix the problem, her doctor said she had two options: a cartilage transplant that would require she take it easy on her knee for a full year or a full replacement coupled with some substantial restorative surgery.

Not wanting to be out of commission for a full year, Mueth looked around for a doctor to take care of the more intensive procedure, and she eventually landed at Orthopedic Associates in Columbia.

After meeting with an assistant, Mueth had an appointment with Dr. Christopher Mudd.

Mudd, a St. Louis native, recounted his medical education at Saint Louis University. As he said, his specialty has long been trauma, specifically concerning the lower body.

“I treat almost all conditions of the hip and the knee for the most part, with a heavy emphasis on arthritis, post-traumatic injuries,” Mudd said. “So, I do a lot of hip and knee replacements.”

While her previous doctor had been less-than-certain of his own skills when it came to replacement and restoration, Mueth said Mudd was able to offer the reassurance she was looking for.

“I liked the confidence in his ability of what he could do,” Mueth said. “He was being very up-and-up with me. He spent a lot of time answering any questions I had. I didn’t feel like in any way I was being rushed through our appointment. He just really seemed to care about giving me the best care I could have.”

From there, Mueth recalled that she made an appointment she’d be waiting some time for only to have the office reach out about a week later to cut her wait down to a month.

Ultimately, Mueth said her procedure went quite smoothly, and Mudd told her that the operation – which usually takes 20-30 minutes for less damaged cases – took just over an hour for her.

Now able to get back to her many athletic interests, Mueth spoke with tremendous praise for Mudd and the many others she encountered at Orthopedic Associates.

“I just can’t say enough about just how great everybody, whether it’s the nurse practitioner, the people in the office, everybody was very helpful, just very kind,” Mueth said.

She noted the individualistic nature of her care, something Mudd also spoke about.

According to him, avoiding a cookie-cutter approach to patient care and instead considering the best option for each unique patient is a major part of his and his colleagues’ work.

“I think at the end of the day, what sets us apart is that all the providers here care deeply for their patients, and I think we’re in this for the right reasons,” Mudd said. “Medicine’s complicated in this day and age. There’s some business side to medicine, and there’s patient care side to medicine, and I think all of us prioritize the patient care side of medicine over the business side.”

Since her surgery, Mueth has been able to continue her physically-intensive hobbies, and though her other knee will likely require similarly care in the future, she said she knows exactly where she’s going for it when the time comes.

Orthopedic Associates is located at 1000 Eleven South, Suite 3C in Columbia.