There are two new centres at Windsor Regional Hospital designed to help patients with hip, knee and lower back pain.
The so-called "Rapid Assessment Centres" or RAC opened this week at both campus.
Patients are assessed by specially-trained 'Advanced Practice Physiotherapists' within weeks who decide on the best treatment plan.
If patients need surgery, they are referred to a surgeon and if they don't need surgery, they are educated about how to treat the pain with follow-up visits.
Before, patients waited in pain for months or years to see a surgeon, only to find out sometimes they didn't need surgery.
According to Windsor Regional Hospital, for surgeries such as hip, knee and lower back - it currenlty takes more than seven months from the time your primary care doctor says you need surgery — to the time you actually get the surgery.
The Hip and Knee RAC is located on the first floor of the Met Campus, while the Lower Back RAC is on the first floor at the Ouellette Campus.