Surgery is a decision, not a default
A large share of knee, shoulder and hip pain settles with the right rehabilitation, load management and injections. If that is your situation, I will tell you — and show you the plan.
Orthopaedic, Arthroscopy & Sports Injury Surgeon · Surat
Not everyone who is told they need surgery does.
I am Dr. Dipen Ariwala — a fellowship-trained knee, shoulder and hip surgeon in Surat. Bring your scans and you will leave knowing what is actually wrong, what happens if you do nothing, and whether an operation is genuinely the right answer for you.
Dr. Dipen Ariwala
MBBS, MS (Ortho), DNB, MNAMS, MRCS
MS Ortho, KEM Mumbai · 4 subspecialty fellowships
- Years in orthopaedics
- 10+Years in orthopaedics
- Surgeries performed
- 800+Surgeries performed
- Fellowships completed
- 4Fellowships completed
- Joints of focus — knee, shoulder, hip
- 3Joints of focus — knee, shoulder, hip
Start here
Where does it hurt?
Most people arrive knowing how it feels, not what it is called. Pick the joint, then the sentence that sounds like you.
Does one of these sound like you?
- “My knee gives way when I turn”Read about ACL Tear
- “I heard a pop and it swelled up”Read about ACL Tear
- “I don't trust my knee any more”Read about ACL Tear
- “It feels loose or unstable”Read about ACL Tear
- “My knee catches or clicks”Read about meniscus Tear
- “It locks and won't straighten”Read about meniscus Tear
- “Pain on the inside of my knee”Read about meniscus Tear
- “It hurts to squat or twist”Read about meniscus Tear
- “Deep pain in one spot in my knee”Read about cartilage Injury
- “It swells whenever I do too much”Read about cartilage Injury
- “Something catches when I bend it”Read about cartilage Injury
- “It hurts after a specific injury”Read about cartilage Injury
- “My knee aches and is stiff in the morning”Read about knee Arthritis
- “I can't walk as far as I used to”Read about knee Arthritis
- “It hurts going down stairs”Read about knee Arthritis
- “My knees have started bending outwards”Read about knee Arthritis
Or go straight to a procedure
Ligaments, cartilage, arthritis and replacement.
How this practice works
Four things you can hold me to
Most people arrive having been given a diagnosis and a price, and very little else. These are the commitments that shape every consultation here.
Preserve the joint you have
Repairing cartilage, realigning a knee with an osteotomy or fixing a meniscus buys years of native joint. Replacement is excellent surgery, but it is rarely the first answer for a younger patient.
You should understand your own scan
Every consultation includes your imaging on the screen, in plain language, with the actual problem pointed out. Bring your films and reports.
Recovery is the operation
The result of a ligament reconstruction is decided in the twelve weeks afterwards. You will leave with a written, dated rehabilitation plan, not a vague instruction to rest.
What I do
Keyhole surgery, joint preservation, replacement
Ordered the way the decisions are actually made: preserve the joint you have wherever possible, and replace it only when that is genuinely the better option.
Knee4 procedures
- ACL ReconstructionRebuilding the torn ligament in the centre of your knee so it stops giving way, using a graft passed through two small incisions.
- Knee Arthroscopy & Meniscus RepairKeyhole surgery to see inside the knee and repair what is torn — most often a meniscus — through two incisions about a centimetre across.
- Knee Preservation & OsteotomyRealigning the leg to shift your weight off the worn half of the knee — so a younger patient can keep their own joint instead of replacing it.
- Knee ReplacementResurfacing the worn ends of the joint with metal and plastic, for a knee where arthritis has taken away your walking and your sleep.
Shoulder3 procedures
- Shoulder Arthroscopy & Rotator Cuff RepairReattaching the torn tendon on top of your shoulder to the bone with anchors, through three small keyhole incisions.
- Shoulder Stabilisation & LatarjetStopping a shoulder that keeps dislocating — by repairing the torn socket rim, or by rebuilding the socket with a block of your own bone.
- Shoulder ReplacementResurfacing a worn or collapsed shoulder joint — including the reverse design, which works even when the rotator cuff cannot be repaired.
About the surgeon
Trained at KEM Mumbai. Four fellowships. Still teaching.
I trained in orthopaedics at KEM Hospital in Mumbai, one of the busiest trauma and reconstruction units in the country, where I finished second in my institution and seventh in the university. I then spent four fellowships learning the specific things I now do every week: arthroscopy of the knee and shoulder, ligament reconstruction, joint preservation surgery, and hip and knee replacement.
Alongside my practice I teach. I am an Assistant Professor, I run postgraduate courses and CME programmes, and I mentor surgical residents. Teaching keeps you honest — you cannot explain a decision to a room of trainees unless you genuinely understand why you made it.
- MS (Ortho) — 2nd in institution, KEM Mumbai
- DNB · MNAMS · MRCS
- Winner, IOA National Quiz 2022
- Gold Medal in Medicine & Gynaecology
- Assistant Professor, Orthopaedics
- Published in peer-reviewed journals
Second opinion
Been told you need an operation? Ask someone else first.
A second opinion either confirms the plan — so you can go ahead with confidence — or it does not, which is exactly what you needed to know. Send your MRI and reports and we can review them, in person or over video.
Patient journeys
What recovery actually looked like
Including the patient who was advised surgery elsewhere and did not need it.
Back opening the bowling eleven months after his ACL went
“I heard the pop while turning for a second run and thought it was just a bad twist. Two months later my knee gave way on a staircase. What I remember from the consultation is being shown my own MRI and being told exactly what would happen at three months and at nine — including that I would feel fine long before I was ready.”
Rohit P., 24 · Club cricketer
Surat · 14 months after treatment
Outcome. ACL reconstruction with a hamstring graft, alongside repair of a meniscus tear found during the operation. Cleared to bowl at eleven months after passing strength and hop testing.
About ACL reconstructionRepresentative journey
Two years of broken sleep ended in the first fortnight
“I had not slept a full night in nearly two years. I could not lie on that side and I could not reach the top shelf in my own shop. The six weeks in the sling were hard and I was warned they would be. But the night pain went within two weeks of the operation, and that alone was worth it.”
Ashok M., 58 · Textile business owner
Adajan · 9 months after treatment
Outcome. Arthroscopic repair of a full-thickness rotator cuff tear. Out of the sling at five weeks, overhead reach restored by four months, back to full work.
About Rotator cuff repairRepresentative journey
Told he needed a knee replacement at 47. He kept his own knee.
“Two doctors had told me a replacement was the only option, and that I would have to give up the farm work. Here I was shown standing X-rays and told the wear was only on the inner side, and that my bow legs were the reason. The eight weeks on crutches were long. But I am back on the land and I still have my own knee.”
Bhavesh D., 47 · Farmer
Bardoli · 22 months after treatment
Outcome. High tibial osteotomy correcting the alignment away from the worn inner compartment. Off crutches at eight weeks, back to full agricultural work by seven months, no restriction on physical labour.
About Knee preservation (osteotomy)Representative journey
Journal
The questions people search at midnight
Written to answer one real patient question each, in the words people actually use.
- 7 min read
Nine months for an ACL: why the wait is not arbitrary
Your knee will feel ready at four months. It will not be ready. Here is what is happening inside the graft, and the tests that should decide your return instead of the calendar.
Read - 8 min read
Do I actually need knee surgery? A surgeon's honest checklist
More knee operations are performed than are needed, and some that are needed happen too late. Here is how the decision is actually made — and the five questions that should decide it.
Read - 6 min read
Why does my shoulder hurt so much at night?
It is the symptom patients find most baffling and most exhausting — a shoulder that is bearable all day and unbearable at midnight. There is a straightforward mechanical reason.
Read
Deciding about surgery
The five questions worth asking before you agree to an operation.
Bring your scans. Get a straight answer.
A consultation means your imaging on the screen, a plain explanation of what is actually wrong, and an honest opinion on whether you need surgery — including when the answer is no.