Bad Knees

[tommu56]

Bird I had it done 6 months after I had mine scoped that was about 2 years ago I was 52 at the time but if my memory serves me right it was 3 shots over 2 months it was a vast improvement in the pain relief for me.

The "liquid" was more like hard jello and helped to cushion the joint and I am on concrete at work all day.
I felt I was too young for a replacement and so did my Dr who did the injections.
The company doctor suggested replacement if the scope didn't work (to quick to cut in my opinion) but I have been really happy with it so far.


tom

 

[Bird]

Bird I had it done 6 months after I had mine scoped that was about 2 years ago I was 52 at the time but if my memory serves me right it was 3 shots over 2 months it was a vast improvement in the pain relief for me.

The "liquid" was more like hard jello and helped to cushion the joint and I am on concrete at work all day.
I felt I was too young for a replacement and so did my Dr who did the injections.
The company doctor suggested replacement if the scope didn't work (to quick to cut in my opinion) but I have been really happy with it so far.


tom

That's encouraging, Tom. The doctor did mention a "3 to 5 injection" treatment at one time. The brochure basically talks about a 5 injection series, but says some get relief after 3.

 

[jinman]

Wow! Bird, where is Cowboydoc when you need him? Isn't he an orthopedic surgeon? I don't know a thing to help you, but I bet Richard would.

 

[Hooked_on_HP]

Try the injections first. My neighbor had his left knee replaced with out any problems. When his right knee started giving him problems he had it replaced since the left went so well. Every thing was going well until (believe it or not) they had a recall on his new right knee. The replaced his right knee again and he ended up with a staff infection. He kept having problems with the knee and infections. They replaced the right knee a total of 4 times with 3 different doctors and hospitals before they finally gave up and amputated his right leg above the knee. He has a prosthesis now and doesn't get around very well with it.
Bill

 

[Bird]

Wow! Bird, where is Cowboydoc when you need him? Isn't he an orthopedic surgeon? I don't know a thing to help you, but I bet Richard would.

Yep, Jim, he's an othopedic doctor specializing in sports medicine. And the doctors I use are also the team doctors for the Lewisville & Flower Mound high school football teams.

 

[dmccarty]

My grandfather was a cabinet maker so he was on his knees working quite a bit. I never saw him with any kind of knee pads either. When he was in his late 60s maybe early 70's he had is knees replaced. Back then one of the cable channels used to show surgical procedures and I watched a knee replacement being done. :confused2:

The tools looked like stainless steel versions of what you would but at the big box store to cut up 2x material.

And they used the tools like they were cutting 2x material. :laughing:

All that was keeping the upper and lower leg together was some skin. Hmmm... Maybe this is too graphic.

Gramps was living in a rural area with a very elderly population. The area was full of people who had lived and worked in FLA, like my grandfather, and when the retired then moved to the mountains away from FLA. :laughing: They got a specialist into the hospital who did knee replacements. My grandfather had been in pain for years so he got two new knees.

Unfortunately he did not like the PT. He did want to do the PT. And he did not DO the PT. His replacements were not so successful. I think his pain was gone/reduced but he was never able to walk correctly again. The family puts this on my grandfather not the Doc.

However we have read and been told that knee replacements increase your chances of strokes. And after the replacement my grandfather started having strokes. Now he very well may have had the strokes anyway but we blame the surgery.

The replacements seemed to have helped his pain which IS a big deal. But he also declined from that point and had a series of strokes over the years until he died.

My two cents is that knee and back surgery are in the same boat. You get it done when you can't take the pain any longer because the risks of bad things happening are high.

Later,
Dan

 

[Rockin RK]

Bird, Part of my problem was I waited to long before checking with the doc, if I'd gone in earlier the shots might worked for me. So I'm glad that you're getting checked out early enough to have a chance with the shots.

 

[Knotbored]

I had total knee replacement at 56 to fix a missing cartilege removed when I was 19. I lived with pain including playing adult sports (soccer)for all those years and had a very easy recovery (mostly because the before pain was worse then the after pain.) I am now 71 and nearly forget which knee was bothering me back then.
My wife had the identical operation a couple years later and had a more difficult time with the recovery discomfort-probably because she hadn't lived with severe pain as long.
We visited Disney World 10 weeks after her replacement and she (we) walked ALL OVER that place and she wasn't slowed down a bit and kept up with little discomfort.
When its done you can't kneel on it, don't jog, don't use that leg on a shovel.
Expect 1 week onpain, 1 month of discomfort, 1 month of favoring it and several weeks of exercising it then icing it down-that ice was worse then the pain to me.
I couldn't be happier- and remember when you favor a bad knee it does damage to your hips and to the other knee. I would replace the other knee if it was as uncomfortable as the first one was. Worrying about the operation was far worse then getting it done.

 

[Bird]

he did not like the PT. . . . he did not DO the PT

we have read and been told that knee replacements increase your chances of strokes

Dan, my mother was 75 when she fell and broke her right hip. A steel plate was installed with screws. She got out of the hospital after 19 days, and we thought all was going well for another 41 days. But then one evening, she started to get up out of a recliner and all the screw heads popped off, so it was back for a bigger plate and more screws. That time she got a massive staph infection in the hospital. She spent over a year in the hospital, had 4 surgeries and they finally just completely removed her right hip joint and said she'd never walk again. When she originally broke her hip, she had already been having lots of problems with her right knee, so 2 years after the hip was broken, they did a knee replacement, but I'm afraid she didn't do her therapy either so that knee was pretty stiff and hurt if it got bent at all. It was two and a half years after the knee replacement when she had her first stroke, so I never considered the possibility of a connection between the two.

when you favor a bad knee it does damage to your hips and to the other knee

Yep, I don't know just why my knee problem is so much worse some days than others, but . . . it wasn't too bad Sunday, and yesterday morning wasn't bad at all, but this morning, it was bad. However, I mowed, edged, and trimmed the yard anyway, and before I was through, not only was the knee hurtin' like the dickens, but my left hip joint felt incredibly tired and sore.:laughing: And of course I knew why.

 

[Reg]

There will be some variation in "success", patients are sufficiently different for that.
Surgeons too, as well as after care services, e.g. physio therapists.
I think any anecdotal evidence more than 5 years old should be discounted (somewhat), more than 10 years old should be discounted even more.

My wife's replacements have been within the last year and a year or two from now the process and success rate will probably have improved even more.

The "PT" started right in the recovery room, they put her on a continuous motion machine that ran her foot up and down like a piston and con-rod to keep bending and straightening the knee. The other leg was in a pressure cycling cuff, with ice water cooling, to reduce the probability of clotting, thereby reducing the chances of strokes - some medications for that too (though they disliked me calling them "blood thinners").
She was discharged 3 days after surgery each time and a surgical appliance rental company delivered a continuous motion machine for her to use for 3 weeks.
Physiotherapist visits to the house twice a week for three weeks, then twice a week for four weeks as an outpatient (still in that phase for the left knee).

This seems to be the current state of the practice in this area (35 miles west of Boston, Mass) at a Worcester Mass hospital.
It probably varies by surgeon, patient, hospital, after care services, etc. and will almost certainly change over time.

If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask, go to private messages if you prefer.

Best,

Reg