‘I got my life back’: Utah man climbs equivalent of Mt. Everest one year after hip replacement

HEBER CITY — Craig Knight loves athletic challenges.

Originally from Chicago, the Midway man has competed in various triathlons for more than 20 years. But a few years ago, he started having some pain in his right hip.

“My pace was significantly slowing, and it progressively got worse,” Knight said.

He was diagnosed with osteoarthritis. Knight tried different forms of prehab, like exercises and strength training.

“The ultimate goal was to get back to where I wanted to be, which was an ultra-endurance athlete,” he said.

When the pain didn’t subside, the next step was hip replacement surgery — the procedure falling on his 60th birthday.

“I called my wife, and I said, ‘I got a slot for surgery. This is going to be about the best birthday present I could possibly give myself. I get my life back,'” he said.

Knight underwent surgery on March 27, 2023, returning home from the hospital the following day.

“The healthier you are going into surgery, the easier it is to recover and the faster your recovery will be,” Dr. Garrett Davis, an orthopedic surgeon at Intermountain Heber Valley Hospital, said. Davis performed Knight’s surgery, which he said is a good option for those with severe arthritis.

“Arthritis is actually the loss of cartilage. As you lose that cartilage, it’s like losing the tread on your tires. And so, surgery is, in a sense, going in and retreading the tire,” Davis said.

Knight said his recovery has been going well. “All the prehab, all the strength training, all the mental preparedness for what that meant makes a huge difference.”

After his surgery, it was back to physical therapy, working again with Rachel Robinson, who has also become his training partner. They’ve even done a race together.

“Having a total hip replacement does not mean that you’re done. You can still be an athlete and get out there,” said Robinson, a board-certified physical therapist and orthopedic clinical specialist in outpatient physical therapy at Intermountain Heber Valley Hospital.

Through hard work and determination, Knight is once again doing what he loves. In August at Snowbasin, he climbed the equivalent of Mount Everest in the 29029 Everest Challenge.

“16 months after full hip replacement, I successfully summited 29,029 feet in under 36 hours,” he said.

It was a major accomplishment, for which he credits the team-based care he received.

“I couldn’t have done it without the surgical team. I absolutely couldn’t have done it without the hospital team. I couldn’t have done it without the physical therapy,” he said. “Everybody was pulling for me to be successful. And I was. And I am. I got my life back.”