About Shawn Palmer, DO

Welcome to our home for The Hip and Knee Center at Ortho Illinois. My name is Shawn W. Palmer. I am a board certified and fellowship trained joint replacement surgeon. Our team is focused on outpatient anterior approach hip and total knee replacement surgery.

After more than 20 years in practice, I have a long history of leading the way for joint care in the Midwest. I was the first surgeon in Illinois to train on robotic assisted joint surgery in 2007. I traveled to Florida as a guest of the inventor of the MAKO technology to learn the technique and in the years since, I have completed training for the Velys, OMNIBotics, T-Mini and Lantern systems. In another first, I am the original user for the Lantern system in the State of Illinois. No one has a longer experience.

This unmatched experience makes me uniquely qualified to combine the newest technology with the most traditional patient centered approach. In my practice, you have the opportunity to discuss what is best for your care from the most conservative non-operative treatments through the most advanced surgical technologies.

We do two things, fix hips and knees. Over 20 years, I have performed over 7,000 joint replacements for patients from around the world with world-class service. I am from a small town in East Texas where life was simple and a handshake was a promise kept. I learned how to operate at the University of Chicago and I am a life member of the University of Chicago Surgical Society, but I treat my patients in the same small town Texas way. Lets keep the conversation simple and treat each other with respect.

I was a patient before I was a surgeon. Collegiate athletics helped me with an education, but also with a broken leg, a torn rotator cuff and 5 back surgeries. I know the anxiety of facing an operation. What is routine in my daily life now as a surgeon is often unknown and unexpected for you. Please ask questions, compare opinions and lets make a decision together that will best reduce your pain and improve your function. Sometimes the decision is for a new hip or knee, but often our attention to fitness, diet and healthy choices can make a difference without surgery.

Making a return to a more active and pain-free lifestyle and witnessing the satisfaction of my patients is both my motivation and reward. It’s just that simple.

Sincerely,
Dr. Shawn W. Palmer