Sept. 20, 2024
Mike Kelly is an active guy.
His job keeps him on his toes in more ways than one. Since becoming the voice of the Missouri Tigers in 1994, Kelly hasn’t missed a football game, a streak of 372 radio broadcasts. He also prefers to call games standing up so he can see the whole field from the top of Memorial Stadium.
When that streak continued August 29 for the Tigers’ opening game of the 2024 season against Murray State, an even longer streak came to an end: Kelly’s knee pain from osteoarthritis.
“I started running a substantial amount in 1991 after my wife and I had twins, 26 miles per week,” said Kelly, who is also the voice of Mizzou men’s basketball games. “Took off one morning going up the hill in our neighborhood and got about a block and it was done. I saw a doctor and found out that it was bone on bone at that point in time.”
More than 20 years after he was told he would need a knee replacement, Kelly started wondering if it was finally time. He turned to a familiar face from football practices for advice, orthopaedic surgeon and team physician Clayton Nuelle.
As the team physicians for Mizzou Athletics, MU Health Care’s sports medicine doctors and specialists at the Missouri Orthopaedic Institute offer world-class care to all athletes, both on and off the playing field.
The two worked together to get Kelly through football season and most of basketball season with minimal pain, using physical therapy, injections and other forms of therapy. Eventually, Kelly’s decision was clear.
Nuelle’s team, including athletic trainers Kasey Currence and Tammy Young, helped Kelly through every step of the process. The team created a plan that was tailored to his needs, from the timing of the procedure to a step-by-step approach to recovery that matched his goals and active lifestyle.
Nuelle also used robot-assisted surgery to plan and perform Kelly’s total knee replacement, creating a 3D model of the native joint anatomy to make the replacement as precise as possible.
“Knowing that you aren’t relying on one person’s precision, that this was another tool to make sure I had the right outcome, gave me a lot of comfort,” Kelly said. “Overall, the people at MU Health Care were so professional and gave me that level of comfort from surgical planning to check-in that morning to waking up from surgery, even the size of the scar. I couldn’t be more pleased.”
With the Missouri Orthopaedic Institute minutes from home, Kelly had easy access to comprehensive orthopaedic care from experts who help world-class athletes stay at, or get back to, the top of their game.
“Being able to offer this level of care to someone of Kelly’s stature, the voice of the Tigers, and to our athletes and also to every patient that we take care of is unbelievable,” Nuelle said. “It's one of the reasons that I love it here. We have the people, the expertise and the technology to provide great care for all our patients from start to finish.”
That kind of detailed, high-level care takes teamwork Kelly often sees on fall Saturdays.
“In my role, I see the enthusiasm from players and coaches throughout practices and games, I see the collaboration that takes place,” Kelly said. “You absolutely see that at MU Health Care as well. Doctors, nurses, anesthesiologists, physical therapists, operating room techs — everyone works in concert to make sure you as a patient have the best possible outcome.”
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