Good Neighbor Podcast: Pittsburgh

E81: Renaissance Orthopaedics: Redefining Knee and Hip Replacement in Pittsburgh

• Leila Carter & Dr. Noelle DiGioia Guthrie • Episode 81

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What makes Dr. Noelle DiGioia Guthrie with Renaissance Orthopaedics a good neighbor? 

Mobility matters at every age. Dr. Noelle DiGioia Guthrie of Renaissance Orthopedics joins us to challenge common misconceptions about joint replacement surgery while sharing her unique journey from college lacrosse player to orthopedic surgeon.

As a Pittsburgh native who returned home after training in Philadelphia, Dr. Noelle brings specialized expertise in knee and hip replacements to her family's practice. She directly addresses the fears many patients have about painful recoveries, especially for knee replacements, explaining how modern pain management approaches and comprehensive patient education have transformed the experience. Perhaps most importantly, she debunks the myth that advanced age disqualifies someone from joint replacement, emphasizing that quality of life should drive these decisions.

What makes Renaissance Orthopedics truly special is its status as a thriving independent practice in an era of healthcare consolidation. This father-daughter practice maintains a personalized approach where patients remain at the center of care decisions. Dr. Noelle speaks candidly about the privilege of joining the practice her father built and continuing its legacy of patient-focused orthopedic care. The smaller practice setting allows for continuity of care that larger institutions often struggle to provide.

Beyond her surgical expertise, we get glimpses of Dr. Noelle's life outside the operating room—raising three young children, enjoying tennis (which draws on skills similar to her lacrosse background), and practicing yoga. Her genuine connection to the Pittsburgh community shines through as she expresses gratitude for being able to serve her hometown.

Ready to reconsider what you know about joint replacement? Connect with Renaissance Orthopedics through their website, social media, or by contacting Dr. Noelle directly at Dr.Noelle@pfcusa.org to learn how improved mobility might change your quality of life.

To learn more about Renaissance Orthopaedics go to: 

https://www.pittsburghboneandjoint.com/

Renaissance Orthopaedics and The Bone and Joint Center of Magee Women's Hospital of UPMC

(412)683-7272 

Speaker 1:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Lila Carter.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of a total knee or hip replacement? A resource may be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of speaking with your good neighbor, Noelle DeGioia GutGuffrey, with Renaissance Orthopedics. Noelle, how's it going?

Speaker 3:

It's going well, thank you. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 2:

Thanks for being here. We're excited to learn all about you and your business, so please tell us more about your practice.

Speaker 3:

Sure, so by training. I'm an orthopedic surgeon. I specialize in total joint replacement, specifically knee and hip replacement, as you mentioned, obviously meaning I went through medical school and did orthopedic residency in Philadelphia, but I'm originally from Pittsburgh, born and raised, and then, after residency, I made my way back to Pittsburgh and completed my one year total joint replacement fellowship here at McGee Women's Hospital, which is where I'm located specifically.

Speaker 2:

Excellent. How did you get into this business?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, good question. I mean I have a interesting way introduced it number one and secondly kind of showed us that the patients who he can take care of did really well and were really happy with the outcome of their surgeries and how it changed the quality of their life after surgery. So I think that was my first introduction and then, along with that, I've always been really interested in sports and an athlete. I played college lacrosse and you know, I think that makes you really in tune with your musculoskeletal system. And then, you know, jumping off from those two things, when I went to medical school I was definitely interested in orthopedics.

Speaker 3:

So that's how I got to where. I am, you know, interested in orthopedics.

Speaker 2:

Very cool. So what are some myths or maybe misconceptions in this industry?

Speaker 3:

Hmm, Great question. I think some misconceptions are that total joint replacement can be really painful and really a hard recovery, particularly knee replacements. I think a lot of people have misconceptions and hear people's kind of horror stories about going through the rehab after a total knee replacement. But we have a lot of ways these days of very good pain management and also just our team here is really awesome from you know, when we start talking to you at your first appointment till after you get your surgery, years after you get your surgery, to help you, guide you through the process and also give you a lot of education and tools to help make the experience the best that it can be.

Speaker 3:

So I think that's one of the big misconceptions, particularly about having a total knee. I also think another misconception people have is that they might be like too old. You know we have patients who come in who are in their 80s or 90s and think that they're quote, too old to have a joint replacement. But you know if it's really limiting your quality of life and you're, you know, healthy enough to have surgery then, we try to.

Speaker 3:

We try to work with you and see what we can do.

Speaker 2:

I love that. I'm sure that you guys are the answer to a lot of pain problems that people might be having with their mobility concerns and things, so the work that you're doing in the community is so important. So who are your target customers then, and how are you attracting them to Renaissance Orthopedics?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so I mean I'm an orthopedic surgeon by training. So we do general orthopedics in our five years of residency, so you know I'm trained in everything. But more specifically I deal with hip and knee arthritis mostly, which causes people to have joint replacement. So typically it's patients a little bit, you know older, you know forties, fifties plus, who are you know older, you know 40s, 50s plus, who are you know, experiencing pain from osteoarthritis or other types of arthritis. But I do see some younger patients with sports injuries or other fracture injuries. So it does run the gamut, but I'd say most of our target audience is an older population.

Speaker 3:

And then our biggest way of like, our biggest way of marketing is the second part of your question. I think I mean a big way of marketing for us is word of mouth. I mean I think Pittsburgh, as you can see, it's, as you know, probably it's one degree of connection between anyone. So word of mouth is huge. You know we have patients who do really well after surgery and enjoy you know our practices with really well run and um good people through and through who really care about um treating patients Um. So when they talk about that people are, you know, come to see us. Um, otherwise we're on. You know we're on social media, obviously online. We have a great website. Obviously, we work at a UPMC hospital, so we have some UPMC affiliations with those types of things.

Speaker 2:

So, as you're educating people on the benefits of surgery and kind of reducing the stigma that it has to be painful in recovery and things like that has to be painful and recovery and things like that, have you ever thought about possibly doing a podcast to get the word out there and educate people about what you do and how it could benefit them?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, like you mean like me specifically doing a podcast personally? Yeah, I mean, I haven't. I think a lot of people do, we actually. There's a lot of great podcasts from you know orthopedic surgeons. There's actually one. Her name's Vonda Wright. She used to be in Pittsburgh and now she's down in Florida. She has a really great one. More, a lot focused on you know women in the orthopedic specialty but also caring for women specifically related to musculoskeletal disorders. I, I think at this point I'm, you know, at the point in my career I'm really trying to build up my clinical practice. So I don't know how much energy I have to focus on a podcast, but I would like to at some point for sure. I think it's definitely a good way to educate people, for sure, and have people ask questions and and teach and connect with people for sure and teach and connect with people for sure, absolutely so, outside of work.

Speaker 3:

what do you do for fun, noelle? Yeah, so I have three kids, three young kids. I have a daughter who's almost five, who names Gabriella, and then a three-year-old son named Anthony, and then a one and a half-year-old son named Henry. So they take up a lot of my time outside of work, which is fun. So we like to do things with them. We always are pretty active with them, going on walks and doing things with our family, so that's a big part of it. Otherwise, I like to play tennis. I've actually, you know, after playing sports in college pretty, very competitively. I kind of it was nice to not have to, um, you know, do that fairly intense competitive nature of sports. So I started to pick up like yoga. Um, I was a teacher at one point in Pittsburgh, which was awesome. Um, now I just do it, you know, recreationally myself, and then I play tennis, which is nice, go for walks, yeah tennis and you played lacrosse and you're a surgeon so

Speaker 2:

the human-eye communication is unparalleled.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, yeah. Everyone says did you play tennis in high school? And I said no, but I played like a sport where you know it's similar. You have to see a ball and catch it.

Speaker 2:

You know, in a small small area, so tennis is kind of similar in that way. Very cool. So please tell our listeners one thing that they should remember about Renaissance orthopedics Let me think about this.

Speaker 3:

So I think what makes our practice so, our practice is a private practice, which is very unique these days because a lot of private practices, you know they're smaller and they're being bought up by larger health systems. But you know, we my it's my dad started his own private practice and I joined him. It's very unique that it's still alive. I think by that nature it makes us a smaller practice and we could be very personalized for our patients, meaning, you know, providing personalized care and really making sure the patient is at the core of their care. You know, and making sure we work as a team together to their care, you know, and making sure we work as a team together to provide them, you know, the best experience they can have, from start to finish, may that be from their first new patient visit to after surgery or just giving them options for conservative care for their arthritis. I think that's really what we do best.

Speaker 2:

And I think our patients really appreciate that.

Speaker 3:

Excellent, yeah, I love that you get to continue on his legacy and share that with him. That's so special. It is, I think. I mean I tell everyone I'm in a very, I'm very, um lucky and thankful for the position that I'm in, because I have a great mentor. Not only is he an awesome doctor and surgeon, but also my dad that I, you know, can learn from and work with. So it's been and you know, our other doctors in our practice too, have been great mentors for me too. So I'm very thankful for the position that I'm in, for sure.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, what a blessing, absolutely so how can our listeners learn more about Renaissance Orthopedics?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so we actually have a really great website pittsburghboneandjointcom, but it's a really great website. You can call our office. Our office is 412-683-7272. Always call to ask questions. If you have questions about being seen, email's a great way to email me. It's drnoelleatpfcusaorg, so you can reach me directly if you have any questions. And then also our social media accounts are great to follow. They also have really good education materials and information about our practice.

Speaker 2:

Excellent. Well, Noelle, we very much appreciate your time today and having you as a guest on the show. We wish you and the practice the best moving forward.

Speaker 3:

Great Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. It's nice to be back in Pittsburgh and, you know, be part of the community again, for sure.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, we're happy to have you.

Speaker 1:

Great. Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPPittsburghcom. That's GNPPittsburghcom, or call 412-561-9956.