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Arthritis.......wait, what??

19K views 88 replies 23 participants last post by  PalmerFreak 
#1 · (Edited)
My right knee (regular stance) usually bothers me about half-way through the season and I never really thought much about it figuring the torque that's placed on the joint causes it to flare up. Usually by the middle of spring everything is fine and I get on with my summer activities.

This year was a bit different though. The pain lingered all the way through summer and into fall so I decided to get it looked at this past week. The pain is almost always on the inside of my knee (MCL area) and I get some swelling from time to time. I figured that if there was something wrong I'd get it taken care of quickly since - in my mind - it must be minor.

So I make an appointment with my general doctor and he asks me a bunch of questions, checks range of motion, etc. He tells me that I may have an MCL strain or a small tear in my meniscus and wants to set up an appointment with an orthopedist. He also wants to do a couple X-ray to eliminate any type of bone issues and I say fine. So I set up my appointment with the orthopedist and get the X-rays done. That afternoon a nurse leaves a message on my phone saying that the X-rays revealed arthritis in my knee.......WTF!!! I'm not a young guy by any stretch (46) but I always thought that arthritis is something I'd have to deal with much later in life. It's the first time in my life that my own mortality stared right back at me. :angry:

I did some investigating and there are a wide variety of treatment options from excercises to braces to drugs and so on but I guess I'll have to wait until I speak with the orthopedist to work up a treatment plan. I don't plan on ever getting off my board no matter what happens with my knee/s but it's a bummer.

So, are there any other peeps here that have an arthritic knee that can share there experiences and what treatments seemed to work? I read that NSAID pain relievers like Aleve work well and I ran out and got some yesterday. I popped a couple last night and they worked very well - no pain at all this morning.
 
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#39 ·
#40 ·
Thanks for the link to the article - very interesting. What really got me thinking is that the article mentions that some people that have meniscal tears also have arthritis and the arthritis is what's causing the pain and not the meniscal tear. My regular Doctor thought that the x-Ray showed arthritis while the orthopedist thinks that I have a meniscal tear so maybe I'm in the same boat. I'm definitely going to have a long talk with the orthopedist (after the MRI) if he recommends that I go under the knife.
 
#42 ·
That's me. And while rehab of a torn meniscus sounds great it doesn't work if the tear is significant enough that its clicking and catching in the joint. I've torn both meniscus and have arthritic damage in both knees from 20 years of riding. I do agree that every little thing helps. Off season I cut back on my running and added swimming. Keep body mass leaner. Avoid alcohol and caffeine anything that will deposit uric acid in the joints. Gave up Brazilian girls.
 
#41 ·
So the knee is an inherently unstable joint because we sit so f'ing much. When this happens, the body lays down bone to to try to protect the area.
Osteoarthritis is our body's way of trying to stabilize an area. It's the attempt to solve a problem, when the problem is instability.
So functional rehab is the solution. Muscle that can conttrol your body in every direction through every activity will stop Bones and joints from jamming in together etc....
 
#43 ·
If the tear is significant enough to lock your knee, there are ways around that. That's why some joint mobilization stuff comes in handy so you can cycle the fluid around giving it a better chance to smooth everything out.
I've seen perfect knees who are in pain chronically and completely degenerated bone on bone knees that have no pain at all.
The fundamental difference is can your muscles to the job.
I'm looking for the ACL study/video where they did the same with ACL surgeries, same answer was rehab!
 
#44 · (Edited)
So I got my MRI on Friday and the doctor got the results this morning. It is a torn meniscus and I have an appointment on Friday to look at the MRI images and discuss things. The doc relayed through his nurse that surgery is what he'd recommend and that he would expect that I would be back on my board before the end of the season - I'm very happy about that. The nurse that works with my orthopedist said that if you're in good shape she's had people running two weeks after the surgery. They have an opening next Thursday (1/16) which means if everything goes well I could be back on my board the first week in February.

I am going to talk to the orthopedist about non-surgical options but I'm thinking that it will take longer to rehab this than it will to go under the knife. :dunno:

So, would you go under the knife to salvage a season or try to avoid the knife by doing rehab and maybe call it quits for 2014? Am I being too short-sighted in trying to save this season? We've gotten more snow at this point in the season than I can remember and would hate to miss it. :(
 
#46 ·
They're full of shit.
Fuck i hate surgeons sometimes, well nurses in this case. The don't know! They don't deal with the patient the second they leave the hospital where the surgery is done. They don't have to deal with all the fuck ups, your rehab people do.
You can return to walking on it after 2 weeks, that doesn't mean you can snowboard on it without hurting yourself again. So fucking retarded that pisses me off.
By not using your quads, you lose a crazy amount of strength in the 2 weeks. This leads to tearing an ACL or some other shit.
 
#49 ·
My friend said his wife said she would get people after meniscus surgeries up and running after 2 weeks <--- still super skeptical
He said it's surprisingly quick. We're still skeptical because we look for non surgical options before anything else, but it's definitely your choice.
 
#50 ·
look at it this way. if the pain is not limiting what you want to do on an everyday basis then you may want to consider either not doing anything immediately and wait to see if the pain subsides enough over time to not get surgery however if your tear is serious enough that it is impairing your ability to get around then you may want to get the knife right away. personally for me, the pain was so bad that I was taking painkillers 24 x7 and not able to walk without a severe limp and with the inflammation I was unable to bend more than 90 degrees. I chose the surgery. The surgery will have consequences later in life. it will hasten getting arthritis in the joints due to missing cartilage and scar tissue from surgery. As one of the Online poster mentioned earlier there are other alternatives to repair rather than remove. these are $$$ and some won't work if you are over 16 or 17. The most promising I have seen is stem cell surgery but this is not covered by insurance (I have really tried hard to get them to do so). Don't rush this unless the injury is a such a state that it is really impairing your mobility.

never seen or heard anyone running after 2 weeks. even pro athletes are at least a few months before they are back on the field. The surgery wil stoop the pain, but there will be inflammation and muscle loss which takes time to bring back.

Just my .02 cents take it for what it's worth. I've been in your knees more than once and still trying to get them fixed right (I'm getting my first ortho visc treatment this week.)
 
#51 ·
I don't know how bad the tear is at this point and hope to get that info on Friday. I was out boarding just a few weeks ago and it's gotten increasingly more painful over that time to the point where it's hard to sleep at times and I'm walking with a limp. I'd prefer to not go under the knife but I may not have much of a choice.
 
#52 ·
I have had meniscus surgery twice. Once on my left and once on my right.

MAKE SURE you educate yourself and faithfully follow all of the seemingly annoying rehab. The most important part of the rehab process is working on the small muscle groups and implementing all of the appropriate exercises. It's much more enticing to just hit the gym and do all of the "obvious" leg workouts, but that is a mistake. Leg curls, extensions, lunges, squats, those things only help later and in conjunction with the "small muscle" exercises.

Also get your motion back within 48 hours. It will help avoid blood clots and speed recovery. Check out Duke University, they did a study on their athletes recovery from meniscus surgery and its really enlightening. I followed their program and was boarding after 6 weeks. They recommend being on a stationary bike after the first 48 hours (lightly) and it works. If you skip any rehab it will set you back exponentially.
 
#53 ·
I just had my knee examined...

with what sounds like the exact same symptoms. I figured it was a meniscal tear on the medial left knee, which is my front foot knee. I went to an orthopedist after 6weeks in pain. With only Xrays and physical tests he determined I had no tear, but pain from overuse on a normally degenerative posterior medial meniscus for my age of 41 and activity level.

I was pretty set on getting a 2nd opinion and/or MRI because it was just killing me- limping most of the time, no way I could run or ride. So my wife throws out going gluten free for a week to see if it helped. A friend of ours swears it rid his knees of arthritic pain. I think American pussy, fad, alergen diets are terrible, but... after two days of zero gluten my knee feels at least 60-70% better.

Could be just coincidence. But it's the first day my knee has begun to feel better in almost 2 months. Gluten free beer sucks though. The only thing I've found that's OK so far is Omission Pale Ale at $10 a six pack.
 
#54 · (Edited)
OK, so I go see the orthopedist yesterday and it's a bucket-handle tear of the medial meniscus in my right knee. Not surprisingly, the doc (he's a skier and specializes in sports medicine) wants to scope my knee. Here's an image from the MRI that shows the tear:



I spoke with him about non-surgical options and he said that we could try rehab but that it would take weeks to see if it would be sufficient to heal me up. If rehab doesn't work, I'd end up going under the knife anyway and the season would be wasted. If I go under the knife he says that he wouldn't recommend getting back on a board in two weeks (depending on what they find once they're inside my knee and the rehab) but he could see me back riding within a month - if all goes well. While getting back on my board this season is a factor the larger issue is my job. I'm a technical trainer for an optical machinery manufacturer and I'm on my feet a lot and travel a fair amount. While a non-surgical option would be preferable I don't think I can wait weeks and still do my job effectively.

So after taking some time to deliberate I'm going to have the surgery done this coming Thursday, 1/16. I'll use this thread to share my experiences as I go through this ordeal if anyone is interested.
 
#56 ·
Day 1

So I had my meniscus procedure done this morning. Got to the hospital at 5:45am to go through all of the pre-op stuff and the doctor started the procedure at 7:30am. It took all of 16 minutes and I woke up at about 8:30am. I felt a little groggy but other than that no real issues. Had a short appointment with one of the rehab people and she gave me a list of exercises that I should do at home. At this point I don't have any rehab sessions set up - they will evaluate me in a week to see how I'm progressing.

Got home and iced it for 30 minutes and am now doing the light exercises that they gave me. I'll be switching between exercise/ice at certain intervals over the next couple of days transitioning to exercise only as the suture pain and swelling subsides.

So far, so good.......
 
#58 ·
Day 2

Thanks for the kind words. :)

The doc did take pics of the inside of my knee and I hope to get my hands on them at some point and will post them.

I feel pretty good this morning. Got up and did my exercises and am going to go into work. I sit most of the day so it shouldn't be a problem. I haven't needed to use crutches and I'm able to get my leg bent past 45 degrees. I get to remove the dressing tomorrow morning and am then going to go to the gym and do some light work on the stationary bike as recommended
 
#59 ·
Day 3

Things are progressing nicely. I'm continuing to do my exercises and my range of movement continues to improve. I don't really have any pain but it's a little stiff at times. I got a prescription for 40 Vicodin but haven't had it filled. I've been using over the counter pain relievers - narcotics scare me. :) I'm able to walk OK and go up and down stairs without much trouble.

I took off the dressings this morning and here's what it looks like:

 
#61 ·
Days 4 and 5

Things are still progressing nicely but the knee is still stiff at times. I went to the gym tonight and was on the stationary bike for 10 minutes and some leg extensions with very low weight without any pain. Gonna do my exercises before I go to bed and ice it some more.

I see the doc on 1/30 and I'm shooting to be back on my board on 2/1 to do some light riding. That might be to aggressive but I figured I would set a goal and work towards it and see how things unfold.
 
#63 ·
Day 6

I had a little pain in what seems like the knee joint tonight which surprised me a little. I felt a little click in my knee as I flexed it which had disappeared after I had the surgery. The pain was close to one of the suture locations so maybe it's not actual joint pain but I'll reevaluate in the morning after I've had some time to rest. I have been pushing things pretty hard and have been up on it a lot. I'm thinking that I may need to back off a little bit on the physical side of things and relax/ice some more.
 
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