quote:

Originally posted by signewt:
He had completed the 100 mile 24 hour run in California numerous times. Lately he was too crippled from bone-on-bone knee to make it out to the mail box without brace & cane.

That sounds like a terrible trade off.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
My buddy did a very painful stem cell procedure multiple times to regrow the cartlidge. It produced negligible results and the miniscule day to day improvements weren't worth the short-term pain and expense of the treatment.

I don't know any more than what I've posted.

I talked to my ortho who was/is involved in some clinical trials for this and the results were not promising.

The ONLY cure for bone on bone is joint replacement. If you have worn off the articular cartilage you have no other choices that will leave you pain free.
You can dismiss any supplements that claim to rejuvenate cartilage or bone - it ain’t happening.

Injections, NSAIDS, “micro-fracture” surgery, etc. are just to put off what is inevitable.
If you are in pain now, you can find doctors who will be happy to take your money and go down the trail of the above treatments. You will end up in the same place...only you will be older - possibly in poorer health, you will have paid more $$, your knees will still be crappy and you might end up with complications from the above treatments.

If you are in PAIN now, just get a replacement done.
The recovery is quick, the results are amazing. Mine was “we’re going to install this one” (2001, 43 yrs old at the time), the wife’s bilateral replacements (1&2 yrs ago) were custom copies of her joints mapped out in MRI.
You WILL have to give up the running. Ride a bike, walk, whatever but impact HAS to go. Skiing (water & snow), hiking & biking is okay, basketball isn’t.

Wouldn’t you like to be surprised by a rain instead of knowing it’s coming 2-3 days from now?

Edit to add: I know folks that got partial replacements. They didn’t do ANY better than the people I know that had total replacements. Recovery was exactly the same as my wife and I -> 3 months.

Good luck.

Two guys at work had total knee replacements and were back at work in 6 weeks.

Standing up 4 hours after surgery and sent home the following day. Crazy.

Both had excellent results.

quote:

Originally posted by 1s1k:
Two guys at work had total knee replacements and were back at work in 6 weeks.

Standing up 4 hours after surgery and sent home the following day. Crazy.

Both had excellent results.

Dr. Randy Peyton invented some of the tools and the procedure to change a knee cap without cutting any of the muscles. This has enabled people to almost walk out of the hospital right out of surgery, and the extremely quick recovery times. The DR. makes a huge difference in the success of the procedure. Some of them order off of the shelf knee caps that come in different sizes and such and others order them with custom changes based on the MRI and the person, so they fit perfectly. IMO it is a blessing that he is so close to the OP. A lot of times they will do 1 knee cap at a time, so you can put more weight on the non knee cap replacement one until the other one is 100% and then vice versa. Doing the recovery exercises is critical too though.

Jimmy, when you get a knee replacement, you keep your OEM kneecap. They install a “button” on the backside to interact with the new hardware.

With the right nerve blocks and auto-infusion RXs (local), knees are headed toward out-patient status. It’s getting that good.

I’ve replaced both knees in the last three years. The outcome of the first one allowed me to do the second without hesitation. Orthopedist will tell you that if you need to replace a knee and don’t, you will end up needing to do a hip as well. They used to say they wanted you to hold out as long as possible so you don’t outlive the implant. Mine are serviceable. If the polymer wears they can go in and replace the disc which is arthroscopic and not nearly as involved as the original replacement. I was told that all impact sports are history. The relief and improvement in quality of life place me right in the “shouldn’t have waited” camp. Six weeks is the recovery time and take the damn pain meds. You’ll need them. They come with enough side effects I wasted no time getting off them once I could. Pooping is cause for celebration. You’ll need them to sleep and to deal with PT. Both are essential.

Best of luck with your decision. YMMV.

quote:

Originally posted by KMitch200:
The ONLY cure for bone on bone is joint replacement. If you have worn off the articular cartilage you have no other choices that will leave you pain free.
You can dismiss any supplements that claim to rejuvenate cartilage or bone - it ain’t happening.

Injections, NSAIDS, “micro-fracture” surgery, etc. are just to put off what is inevitable.
If you are in pain now, you can find doctors who will be happy to take your money and go down the trail of the above treatments. You will end up in the same place...only you will be older - possibly in poorer health, you will have paid more $$, your knees will still be crappy and you might end up with complications from the above treatments.

If you are in PAIN now, just get a replacement done.
The recovery is quick, the results are amazing. Mine was “we’re going to install this one” (2001, 43 yrs old at the time), the wife’s bilateral replacements (1&2 yrs ago) were custom copies of her joints mapped out in MRI.
You WILL have to give up the running. Ride a bike, walk, whatever but impact HAS to go. Skiing (water & snow), hiking & biking is okay, basketball isn’t.

Wouldn’t you like to be surprised by a rain instead of knowing it’s coming 2-3 days from now?

Edit to add: I know folks that got partial replacements. They didn’t do ANY better than the people I know that had total replacements. Recovery was exactly the same as my wife and I -> 3 months.

KMitch200,

Certainly a momentary thread drift. Do the supplements such as glucosamine chondroitin aid maintenance of cartilage prior to complete loss?

Thanks for any additional replies also.

Thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by KMitch200:
Jimmy, when you get a knee replacement, you keep your OEM kneecap. They install a “button” on the backside to interact with the new hardware.

With the right nerve blocks and auto-infusion RXs (local), knees are headed toward out-patient status. It’s getting that good.

I think I used the wrong terminology or wording......for knee replacement surgery. In the past a DR would have to cut muscles (which caused a very long and painful recovery period) in order to do the knee replacement surgery and now they can go in there and do the replacement without cutting muscles so the time you can actually stand on it is hours, and the recovery (PT) period, much shorter.

I just had a total right knee replacement in mid-July. I had the surgery @9am in a local hospital.

The surgery took about 40 minutes. They had me walking as soon as the operation meds wore off.
I stayed overnight and was released about noon the next day.

The first couple of days at home were not fun.
The key to recovery is to do all the rehab exercises that you are told to do.

The knee is working like almost new now. I still
have some swelling in the knee and leg, but my doctor said that is normal. If I ever need my left knee replaced (it is in good shape now) I would not hesitate to have it done.

Another key to recovery is to hit the gym and really work the legs, hips, and core well before the surgery.

My wife had this. I saw the X-ray. Replace. Nothing else to do. Grin and bear it. Then you are new like her.

quote:

Originally posted by Wolfpacker:

KMitch200,
Certainly a momentary thread drift. Do the supplements such as glucosamine chondroitin aid maintenance of cartilage prior to complete loss?
Thanks for any additional replies also.
Thanks.

I’m not really the one to ask, I had a meniscectomy in the ‘70s. Back then torn cartilage was “We can just cut it all out.” The bone ends started smashing together about 10 years later.
Nothing was going to help that. I tried glucosamine but it was like pissing in the ocean at that point.
Some people feel there is “some” relief taking it for joints that aren’t trashed yet...dunno.

 
I was bone-on-bone in my right knee. The left has good cartilage remaining. I went for complete knee replacement last March, and am so glad I did.
 
The orthopedist doing the surgery uses a computer modeling device. He puts pins into the femur and tibia, above and below the incision site. This give the computer a model of the knee, as it is, and how he wants the new one to be. He told me he rotated my new knee slightly outwards to make it more normal.
 
He also said there are two types of the steel pieces that attach above and below. If the bone is good (he cannot tell until he gets in there), he can use the parts with studs that go into the bone and the bone will grow around them solidly. He calls this a more-or-less lifetime replacement. If the bone is not so good, he has to glue the steel parts to the bone, and this type typically has to be redone after 15-20 years. I was fortunate to get the one with studs into the bone.
 
The PT is very important, especially the exercises you do at home every day. With the new knee, you lose both flexion (the ability to bend your knee) and extension. The exercises are geared to regain those functions and bring them back to normal (or close to it). A good example of the limited flexion at first is your inability to lift your leg up on the brake and gas pedals, so driving is out for the first few weeks. He told me 6 weeks, but I approached the PT aggressively and was driving after 2 weeks.