Physician profiles

Sarah Knife Chief sat calmly in her office as she spoke about helping her father deliver babies when she was a teenager. Her experience in the medical field really does reach back that far.

Now as an adult, she has her own practice called Innovative Orthopedic Solutions, PLLC at 1504 SE 28th St. in Bentonville. Dr. Knife Chief is board certified in orthopedics, recently joined the active medical staff of Northwest Health and is currently accepting new patients.

Dr. Knife Chief is the third generation to work in medicine on her father’s side of the family. Her patrilineal grandmother was a nurse, and her older sister is an obstetrics nurse in training to be a midwife.

“I’ve been around medicine my whole life,” she said. She recalled going to work with her father when she was in high school, helping him deliver babies and staying overnight with him at work when he was on call. She watched him and learned about how to calmly deal with emergency situations. This experience also helped her learn what it takes to be a good physician.

“It is hard to describe the feeling you get to experience as a young person watching a beautiful life being brought into the world,” she said. “I was extremely blessed to not only get that experience as a young person, but also see my father in the role of the physician.”

She also worked in a general surgeon’s office while in high school, where she completed tasks like filing.

Also an athlete, Dr. Knife Chief said she likes to play tennis and volleyball, bike and swim. She played softball on a full scholarship at Louisiana State University after high school and injured her shoulder one day while lifting weights. Surgery fixed the issue, and she explained that the physicians who worked on her were good examples for the doctor she would grow to be.

Dr. Knife Chief believes it’s important to put herself in her patient’s shoes. This helps her understand what that person needs.

Sitting in her new office in Bentonville, Dr. Knife Chief explained that she doesn’t operate on patients in every situation. She first tries to help people recover the most natural way possible.

“I tend to focus on the whole patient,” she said.

Dr. Knife Chief said that for her the most interesting part of being an orthopedic surgeon is the many different people she comes in contact with. Those people range from babies to athletes as well as geriatric patients and middle age patients.

Being an orthopedic doctor is always interesting and different, she said. It’s hard work but also very satisfying.

“It is very satisfying helping people improve their lives after treatment,” She said. “Being blessed with the opportunity to operate on people and provide them with an improved functioning in their lives is rewarding.”

She likes to see people get better and wants patients to feel like they have improvement in their lives.

“I like when people are doing well,” she said. “Nobody wants to see people have chronic pain.”

In the middle of medical school, Dr. Knife Chief made a decision that allowed her to use her medical skills to help more people and fulfill a lifelong desire. She joined the army and became an orthopedic surgeon. Her grandfathers were in the military and she had always wanted to join.

Time in the military led Dr. Knife Chief to another landmark in her life. She met her now husband while in the army, and the two now live in Rogers with their three year old son and their daughter, who will turn two years old in August.

She and her husband enjoy spending time with their children as well as biking, hiking and spending time at the lake.

“My husband owns a nutrition club in Bentonville so often times I go there to help him when I am off work,” she said.

Dr. Knife Chief comes to Northwest Arkansas from Premier Bone and Joint Specialists in Claremore, Okla., where she has worked since January 2013. Prior to that, she was on the orthopedic staff at General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital in Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.

Dr. Knife Chief received her medical education at University of Oklahoma College of Medicine in Oklahoma City, Okla. and completed her residency at University of Oklahoma, Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Rehabilitation in Oklahoma City, Okla.

Dr. Sarah Knife Chief