Advanced Knee Replacement, Close to Home: Expert Orthopedic Care Comes to Winchester

Nancy O’Connor, an 86-year-old retired nurse from Oro Valley, Arizona, traveled 2,200 miles for an advanced knee replacement at the recently opened Valley Health Center for Orthopedic Excellence | Winchester in December. She had learned about the practice during an online search and discovered it was one of the few places in the United States to offer a less-invasive procedure in which the tendons and muscles surrounding the knee are separated rather than cut. Having heard from others about the enduring pain of a knee replacement, this procedure seemed like the best option.

Two weeks after her operation, O’Connor walked unassisted into her follow-up appointment with board-certified, fellowship-trained orthopedic surgeon Tariq Nayfeh, MD, PhD, who performed the procedure. “I didn’t need a walker or a cane,” O’Connor says. “I’m so pleased.”

Like O’Connor, residents of the Northern Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia can receive comprehensive, state-of-the-art orthopedic care at Valley Health Center for Orthopedic Excellence. But they don’t have to travel as far as O’Connor. The group’s highly trained and experienced orthopedic specialists provide a full range of treatment options close to home, with locations in Winchester; Front Royal; Luray; New Market; and Woodstock, Virginia; and Martinsburg, West Virginia.

“Patients have access to the highest quality care as soon as they need it,” says Shafic Sraj, MD, medical director of Valley Health Center for Orthopedic Excellence and a board-certified orthopedic surgeon who practices at the Winchester location. “They don’t have to live with pain and mobility challenges or put off care due to concerns about a long drive. We are here, in their community, where they need us, when they need us.”

SIX LOCATIONS, ONE FOCUS ON PATIENT CARE

Valley Health Center for Orthopedic Excellence traces its origins back to 1999, when orthopedic surgeons Joseph Cincinnati, DO, and Troy Foster, DO, opened the Center for Orthopedic Excellence in Martinsburg, West Virginia. “We saw a big need,” says Dr. Cincinnati. “Up to 70 percent of local residents were driving out of the area, as far as Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, for orthopedic care such as knee and hip replacements.”

Over the years, the number of Valley Health orthopedic practice locations and surgeons grew, expanding the types of procedures offered to patients at sites across the region and improving overall patient care. In 2025, the Winchester practice opened, further expanding the scope of care provided to the community. Valley Health’s six practice locations officially became Valley Health Center for Orthopedic Excellence in 2025.

Services provided by Valley Health’s orthopedics team include total knee, hip and shoulder replacement (including tissue-sparing approaches); robotic-assisted total and partial knee replacements; revision joint replacement (when a previous joint replacement needs repair or replacement); sports medicine care; hand, wrist and elbow surgery, including tendon and nerve procedures; a variety of in-office treatments like joint injections and fracture care; and minimally invasive arthroscopic surgery for both upper and lower limbs.

Care at Valley Health Center for Orthopedic Excellence is always comprehensive, customized and patient-centered. Patients learn about their diagnosis and share in treatment decisions.

“I educate patients so they understand their condition and options,” says Mesfin Shibeshi, DO, a board-certified, fellowship-trained orthopedic surgeon at Valley Health Center for Orthopedic Excellence | Front Royal. “As your orthopedic surgeon, we identify the problem and suggest multiple options for care, not just surgery. This could be as simple as self-management with over-the-counter pain relievers or supervised physical therapy. Everyone’s situation is different.”

INSIDE THE WINCHESTER PRACTICE

Valley Health Center for Orthopedic Excellence | Winchester opened in late 2025 and brings unique expertise to the community.

Dr. Sraj’s experience and research in wide-awake, in-office surgery has earned him recognition as a top clinical researcher in orthopedics. Having hand and wrist surgery in-office under local anesthesia has many advantages, he says. “You don’t need general anesthesia and all the extra steps and inconveniences that come with it—the bloodwork, chest X-ray, EKG of the heart and additional doctor appointments,” says Dr. Sraj. “We can do a lot more these days under local anesthesia. Recovery is easier. Patients can get up and walk out on their own afterward. And during the procedure, I can talk with the patient about what to do during their recovery, and they remember it. That doesn’t happen when patients are sedated in the hospital operating room.”

Called WALANT (short for Wide Awake Local Anesthesia No Tourniquet), these hand and wrist procedures allow a patient to play an important role. “They can test and verify the success of a procedure instantly,” Dr. Sraj says. “If I’m repairing a tendon, I need to make it strong but not too tight. The patient helps me test it immediately, and we can check that it is working the way it should.”

Dr. Sraj’s surgical interests also include elbow surgery, nerve ablation for arthritis pain, Thumb CMC (carpometacarpal) joint replacement, carpal and cubital tunnel syndrome, and Dupuytren’s contracture and disease, among others. He completed his orthopedic surgery residency at the American University of Beirut; gained expertise through three fellowships in hand, upper extremity and sports medicine; and has been in practice since 2010.

Dr. Nayfeh joined Valley Health in August and provides a range of total and partial knee replacement and hip replacement services. He has a medical degree from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, along with a PhD in mechanical engineering. He completed a fellowship in adult reconstruction at Missouri’s Midwest Bone and Joint Center and was a professor of Joint Replacement Surgery at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He has been invited to perform surgery in countries around the world.

Dr. Nayfeh is one of a few dozen surgeons in the U.S. to offer the type of tissue-sparing knee replacement that Nancy O’Connor received. “We move—rather than cut—muscle,” he says. “There is less trauma to muscles and skin and less inflammation. Patients report less pain and a faster recovery.”

Dr. Nayfeh also performs cementless total and partial knee replacements, which use special press-fit implants that allow the bone to grow into them and form a strong bond. “It grows stronger over a year and stays strong,” he says, “while the cement used in traditional cemented methods slowly degrades over time.” Based on imaging, Dr. Nayfeh may recommend a custom hip or knee replacement to match the patient’s anatomy.

“Everybody’s anatomy is different,” he says. “A custom joint is the right fit 100 percent of the time.” Overall, he says, “I treat patients as if they were my family. I like to talk to them, answer all their questions, and find the right diagnosis and treatment for their condition.”

A TEAM APPROACH

Having a network of care has many advantages. “Our practitioners are all colleagues who’ve built relationships with each other,” says Dr. Sraj. “We can easily refer our patients to the best person in the system for care. And we always recommend care that is tailored to the patient’s needs and requests. Everywhere you go in the network, surgeons will provide options and recommendations. Patients will make the choice that’s right for them.”

This advanced level of care results in happy patients, including O’Connor, who says she’s glad she traveled to Winchester for her tissue-sparing knee replacement. After a short stay at Winchester Medical Center, she received physical therapy at a rehabilitation center for a few days and stayed with her daughter in nearby Frostburg, Maryland, as she underwent more physical therapy and enjoyed the holidays. She looks forward to getting back to rehearsing with the Arizona Women’s Chorus based in Tucson and strolling Florida beaches looking for seashells. “I cannot tell you how wonderful it has been to come here for this surgery and have it turn out as wonderfully as I expected,” she says.

For more information or to schedule an appointment online at any of the Valley Health Center for Orthopedic Excellence locations, please visit valleyhealthlink.com/ortho .