LONE TREE, Colo. -- Just last year, climbing a flight of stairs would have put Linda Cairns in pain.

"I'm not even sure how I got the pain, but it just got increasingly worse," said Cairns.

And increasingly, the pain in her left knee kept her from doing what she loved.

"I want to be young enough to enjoy my grandkids. I want to be able to get on the floor and play with them and interact with them," said Cairns.

So she went to see Lone Tree orthopedic surgeon Craig Loucks and found out she was a good candidate for a new type of less invasive partial knee replacement, sometimes called knee "resurfacing."

"The idea here is just to remove the diseased cartilage and as little of the bone as possible," said Loucks. "I've had a lot of success with my patients over the last two years."

Here's how it works: using a CT scan and new imaging technology, the maker creates a three-dimensional model of the patient's joint and then designs a custom-fit implant.

"We really just shave off cartilage. We're not cutting off any bone except for a small wafer in the back," said Loucks.

Loucks said the technique often results in faster recovery and better knee function than conventional knee replacement, during which a good deal of bone is cut to fit the off-the-shelf implant.

"Especially in Colorado with our active population, we see a lot of weekend warriors and baby boomers who have beat up their knees and, quite honestly, have damaged one or two parts of their knee more so than the third part of their knee. That's where they really benefit from this type of partial knee replacement," said Loucks.

It's been a year since Cairns had the surgery, and while her knee still lets her know when the weather is bad, she said she is virtually pain-free.

"I've been hiking with the kids this Spring. I went sledding this winter, which was just six months after the surgery, and I walked up and down hills of snow," said Cairns.

She's back to doing what she loves, but now it's pain-free.

"I definitely recommend it. Why wouldn't you do it?" she asked.

For more information about the technology, created by ConforMIS, go to Conformis.com.