WHITESNAKE leader David Coverdale , who had both his knees replaced with titanium in 2017 after suffering from degenerative arthritis, spoke to the "Appetite For Distortion" podcast about the treatment offered to U.S. patients who are stricken by the condition. "It needs to be addressed," the British-born singer, who has lived in America since the mid-1980s, said (hear audio below). "I don't wanna get into any politics, but the American medical system, for a European to see, is just bizarre. It's that of a fourth world. Everybody should be entitled to first-class health care, and particularly for arthritis — not just putting masks on it with medications. That just keeps the pharmaceutical companies happy; it doesn't really do anything for you. I proved that over my 10 years of degenerative arthritis. They're Band-Aids — they're just masks that disguise it for a little bit. And my body has supported me. I'm 67 years old, and I'm still working out with new knees. It's crazy, but it was totally necessary, brother."
Coverdale went on to say that he became aware of the symptoms more than a decade ago. "I do yoga, so I couldn't get into a Child's Pose, which is like a crouch, in 2008," he said. "And I'm going, 'What's this?' I couldn't work it out. And then it just got worse and worse and worse. I was getting shots for all those years, and that's terrible, for instance, on your kidneys."
In a 2018 interview, Coverdale explained that he was in so much pain with arthritis in his knees that it hampered his ability to play live. "It got to the point it was hurting so much, it was pulling me out of the zone I needed to be in for my performance," he said.
David isn't the only former DEEP PURPLE member to undergo a double-knee replacement. Glenn Hughes revealed in 2016 that he also had both his knees replaced. Glenn later told Classic Rock Revisited that it was "a brutal operation" and described it as "almost like they amputate your bloody leg."
WHITESNAKE 's new studio album, "Flesh & Blood" , will be released on May 10 via Frontiers Music Srl . The disc follows the 2011 critically acclaimed studio album "Forevermore" and 2015's "The Purple Album" , a reimagining of DEEP PURPLE classics from Coverdale 's time in that band
