Wellness

[CHEX]

On 12/9/2014 Kachina624 said: The injections people get are steroids and if they work, the results are temporary in duration. They can be repeated but slowly lose their effectiveness. After a while, something more permanent must be done which if often a TKR. The "cleanup" surgery is to remove debris which has broken off and is interfering with the operation of the joint. Sometimes minor surgery work...sometimes it doesn't.

Steriod injections are one option, but there is also viscosupplementation which uses a pharma purified form of natural hyaluronic acid (main ingredient in synovial fluid). Basically it is replacing some of the cushioning fluid (synovial fluid) in your knees. I have had these injections for 5 years and they have worked great for me and bought me time. But it does not work for everyone and as with steriods they tend to be less effective eventually.

Bottom line, no "cure" for bone on bone other than TKA (knee replacement). Someday they may be able to do something with stem cells but it is currently experimental.

If you wait to do TKA until you are virtually crippled, your recovery will be slower. The less exercise you do, the weaker your leg muscles.....the slower you will rebound from the surgery. I had a TKA 3mo ago. You really have to work for the first month and then keep up with exercise to strengthen legs thereafter, but almost everyone will say it was worth doing it.

[PINKdogWOOD]

I'd advise an MRI to see what's going on in there first. Xrays are good but doesn't show or tell the whole story.

I fell a couple of yrs ago and tore the meniscus in my right knee. My MRI clearly showed 3 tears, one being pretty bad. My Dr did an outpatient surgery to repair the tears and cleaned out the arthritis I had. Of course with PT it healed great. You can't even see the typical three itsy puncture slits he made to laser it tears. I started my PT 6 weeks after surgery and did that 2x a week for maybe three weeks.

The 'clean up' that you mention is more than likely cleaning out the arthritis. I suspect your Dr will advise an MRI first. Go for it, your knee may be more involved than just a clean out or torn meniscus. Good luck but don't wait and continue to be in pain. Not worth it.

[Gooday]

I tore the meniscus in 2 spots. I waited a month before having x-rays and an MRI. I waited another 2 weeks before I had the arthroscopy as I thought the pain would subside. After the surgery, the doctor told me I had significant arthritis that did not show up on x-rays. It took me a while to recover and my knee will never be the same. I'm glad I had the surgery but I will have aches and pains and now my hip on the other side hurts as I compensate for the arthritic knee. Good luck.

[sfnative]

Hi Rina,

I waited to respond to see what kind of responses you received and what you had thought of them. But, since I don't note a response from you, thought I'd offer the following.

I've had 2 knee surgeries in my right knee and 2 in the left knee. The last one in my left knee was in May of this year and it was a total knee. I did not present with bone-on-bone, but rather a valgus knee. This meant that my knee was turning in, which was causing it to buckle. This turned out to be rather dangerous, as every time it buckled I ran into a wall at the hospital or a car in the parking lot or a wall at home. I had to be very careful out in public and finally had to walk straight legged like a pirate.

60% of what I did professionally was Ortho. There is one thing I can tell you from all of our "large joint" docs who taught joint replacement to the Resident physicians and that is that most TKAs (total knees) present with painful bone-on-bone and that there's no going back from there. Yes, a synovial-like substance can be injected into the joint, but its effectiveness, according to the docs I know, is clinically questionable. Several companies have tried to date to develop a cartilage replacement, but none has succeed, yet.

Honestly, and just from me to you, if I was bone-on-bone, had lots of pain in the joint to the extent that it was really affecting the quality of my life, I would blink twice, then go schedule an appointment with a doc who has done many total knees. Also, I would recommend that that surgeon use surgical navigation to insure that the bone removal is as exact as it can possibly be, otherwise the surgeon is just eye-balling the cut. Additional recommendation would be for the Stryker Triathlon Knee.

Good Luck and God Bless - R

[Mistic]

I had surgery to "clean up" a torn meniscus after an injury. I had an MRI to confirm the tear. That was in 2001. It helped, but was not a cure all. I also had Synvisc (sp) injections a month after surgery due to continued pain. I still have minor knee issues, and excessive walking is an issue. I sometimes wear a knee sleeve.

Best of luck to you.

[Gooday]

sfnative and mistic have spoken the truth. I too worked for orthopedic surgeons.

When you have bone on bone, there is no going back and only temporary relief. Too many cortisone injections will only mask symptoms and you can develop scar tissue. Many times, the longer you wait, combined with age, your recovery can be less than desirable. NOT ALWAYS, just sometime.

I am faced with the same issues many of you ladies are facing as well. I am 61 and after my arthroscopy in June, I was told that he did the best he could by removing the meniscus and "cleaning" out as much arthritis as he could. He told me the films did not show the extent of the arthritis I had. The funny thing is, I never had any symptoms until I tore the meniscus. The doctor said, "yes you did, the tear just brought it to a head".

Good luck.

[PamelaSue72]

I had a meniscus tear in my left knee about three years ago. The ortho surgeon had to go in and clean the knee out. It took longer than I thought it should have to completely recover; it was close to a year before I was back out walking 6 miles a day. More PT than I thought it would. To this day, my knee will ache a little bit on some days. But compared to hardly being about to walk at all, this is great and I'll take it. The pain was that bad at night that it used to awaken me. I'm 59 years old now, so maybe recovery took a bit longer due to being in my 50s.

Essentially, I am bone-on-bone as they simply shaved the meniscus over to where it was torn. I've needed no injections, no pain pills, nothing. I am grateful. I made up my mind that I was getting back to my walking, regardless of how long it took. But I really didn't expect it take a year!

I can walk and I can do a lot of the exercises I used to do. I can't run or jog anymore, but that's OK. And I need to watch myself with bouncing exercises and things like that. But I can still walk for exercise and I'm happy. I walk outside, on my treadmill, and I can use my elliptical.

[onlyshopsonline]

I have arthritis in both of my knees, and have had knee problems all of my life. I recently went to a new ortho doc. He examined me and did x-rays, and determined that there was a lot I could do, at this point, to postpone or avoid surgery. I don't have a high level of pain, and have no pain while sleeping or resting....yet.

I did a couple of months of aquatic therapy and now am in general physical therapy. My knees have improved by about 75-80%, although I still have a problem with steps. I also had weak core muscles so my lower back gave me problems when I did a lot of walking.

So, we're working on that too. This evening I noticed that I was able to stand and fix dinner, and clean up afterwards without my back aching.

I only have about a month of PT left and I know I'll have to keep up the exercises on my own. I also want to join a facility with a pool that offers aquatic programs for arthritis. Aquatic exercise is amazing.