<p>I have osteoarthritis( knee/hands)& osteoporosis ( hip/spine), although I am not yet 55.
I have a 2nd opinion from a orthopedic surgeon who performed my bunion surgery 15 years ago, and he agrees that while I am young for a complete knee replacement, I am also young to not be able to walk due to arthritis.</p>
<p>So my plan is to work with my PT to get my hip muscles in shape, while I use ultrasound & acupuncture treatments for pain & work hard at losing ten lbs to lessen the stress on my knee.</p>
<p>Aiming at having surgery in about six months, as that will get me through winter & ice and most of the rain.</p>
<p>Not thrilled about surgery, but have already tried alternative treatments ( unfortunately, since I have high pain tolerance, & tend to ignore things in hopes they will get better on their own, my knee is pretty far gone)</p>
<p>So what should I especially think about or do beforehand, now that I am planning for it?
What should I ask about to help me decide which of my drs perform the surgery?</p>
<p>I’ll like to throw out a couple observations, just to get the discussion going. First, joint replacements don’t last forever … unless you are very, very lucky. That said, my plump MIL got both knees done twelve years ago (at age 71) and they’ve been a marvel … especially since my MIL doesn’t take guidance from healthcare providers seriously. They’ve transformed her days from “Oh my knees hurt so bad” to “My knees? Um let me see … yeah they feel great.” </p>
<p>At the other end of the spectrum is a good friend in the healthcare field. He has a family history of bad joints, and had both hips done nine years ago. He had trouble acclimating to them, and is now scheduling replacement surgery. He follows his physician’s instructions religiously, he’s slight of build, and he’s only 65.</p>
<p>I don’t know how your experience will turn out. So IMHO the principal consideration is how bad you’re feeling now … at age 55. You’ve already tried non-surgical alternatives, so it’s unlikely you’ll find something non-surgical that will make you feel better by this time next year.</p>
<p>You say you’re planning to lose ten pounds. That’s great. But… if you need to lose more, do it before you have the surgery, as it may make things sufficiently better that you don’t need the surgery at all. I have a friend who lost 50 pounds and cancelled her surgery.</p>
<p>You want the doctor with the most experience in performing knee replacement surgery, which might be neither of your present doctors.</p>
<p>I had my right hip replaced at age 51 - best thing I ever did. When I was told I needed it, my first reaction was, “no way, I’m too young.” My doctor, thankfully, asked me if I were too old to be able to tie my shoes because at the time, I could not. I was in constant pain - not necessarily excruciating pain, but nagging, constant pain that interfered with my sleep and made me grumpy. I did have excruciating pain with I tried to do certain things. Hips are easier than knees because they are less complicated and the surgery has been improved since I had mine. Thank goodness I qualified for the minimally invasive technique so no muscles were cut and I had no restrictions.</p>
<p>I am planning on losing ten lbs before surgery, I’ve recently lost five, but losing ten more won’t make me too thin. I just started back on painkillers that should help me exercise a little more, & I am also going to start Tai Chi again and maybe even going to the gym more- if I can delay the surgery even longer that would be great.</p>
<p>Both of the Drs I’ve gone to, I think are good, one has probably a lot more experience as all he does are knee & shoulder surgeries and the clinic supplies the docs for the Seattle professional sports teams.
Giving myself at least six mo before surgery will also give me time to check out more Drs, I was thinking of going to the clinic at the UW as it is supposed to be very good.
My general Dr is also getting me in to see a physiatrist ( rehabilitation medicine) that she thinks can coordinate my various bits & pieces.</p>
<p>All this is very foreign to me, I don’t like going to the dr., and I hate waiting rooms ( not to mention dealing with insurance companies ). It reminds me of our 12 yr old van before we finally got rid of it. It was just one thing after another!</p>
<p>The group that I used is a sports medicine group (they are the doctors for the Baltimore Ravens) so I had the best care and rehabilitation I could hope for. They have their own floor in the hospital and my doctor pioneered the minimally invasive procedure so he had done it more than any doctor in the area. I think you want to find a doctor who has done the surgery so many times they can do it their sleep, but you’re pretty sure they won’t try it.</p>
<p>My dad had a really bad knee injury from when he was in college (he was the center on the football team, so he wasn’t exactly slim, either). When he moved his knee you could HEAR the bone on bone grinding. He dealt with it for over 30 years with multiple operations and did everything he could to avoid the replacement. Eventually, it caused his other knee to start hurting with how he favored his other leg. Then his back started hurting most likely due to his really awkward walk and posture. He had enough pain that he also stopped exercising, so he wound up gaining a ton of weight.</p>
<p>After finally getting the knee replacement surgery his knee feels almost back 100%, but he still has the problems with his other knee and his back. He said not getting the surgery done 10 years earlier is one of his biggest regrets.</p>
<p>They do like you to delay it as long as possible because materials that they use are improving, but my concern is if I wait even longer it will be harder to get my muscles working, I’ve already lost some since I can’t bend my knee much.</p>
<p>Not really sure why I have osteoarthritis so bad though, it’s not like I was a quarterback or played rugby!</p>
<p>“After finally getting the knee replacement surgery his knee feels almost back 100%, but he still has the problems with his other knee and his back. He said not getting the surgery done 10 years earlier is one of his biggest regrets.”</p>
<p>This was also my dad’s experience. He was in terrible hip pain for years but too afraid to even consult a doctor about it. He finally had a replacement done about 18 months ago, at age 80, and sailed through the surgery and recovery. Sadly, while his hip is doing great, all those years of hobbling, leaning on a cane, and basically dragging his leg on the bad side, ended up messing up his knees and generally throwing his body out of whack. So now, after giving it up after the surgery, he is back to using a cane and in a lot of pain. My take away lesson is to not delay.</p>
<p>In retrospect, it’s a good thing I was had frozen shoulder, that prompted me to go to the Dr & then to a PT. The shoulder just took a few weeks to be back to normal, then I started having her work on my knee & my hip. When my progress slowed, she poked around more & since I hadn’t ever seen a doc for my knee she agreed it was a good idea. Otherwise I would still be blaming myself for not " exercising right".</p>
<p>I am very concious of the extra stress I am putting on the other side of my body to compensate. Which is where a good PT can really help because she is keeping tabs on my progress. Otherwise, I tended to be pretty sloppy in my movements,I think.
I’m double jointed and have loose ligaments, & often sat funny just cause it was comfortable.
One hip was higher than the other, but lots of stretching and focused exercises seems to have fixed that.:)</p>
<p>I’m surprised my sister doesn’t have knee problems if it is genetic, because she is overweight & my BMI is only about 25, but she isn’t double jointed. ( my mother & grandmother were though, although not as much as I am, mom had a knee replacement when she was 65 & grandma when she was 75), but I also was more active than they were so perhaps that made it wear out faster. People are living so long now, I’m surprised more aren’t having problems, but I do see more people than I would expect using wheelchairs or scooters.</p>
<p>I have osteoarthritis. I know how much it varies from person to person. My experience is more exercise is less pain. I’ve spoken to doctors about this and the best they offer is “well sometimes that works.”</p>
<p>I decided to focus on adding movement and bought a pedometer - about $20, uses accelerometer to track movement. I set a minimum and a goal level for each day, 10k and 12k steps. My experience is that it was hard at first, with a lot of aching and much pain from the toe joints where the arthritis is most active. But now I think nothing of walking significantly more and find that even on days when I can barely move getting out of bed that I loosen up faster. My general flexibility has improved as well. </p>
<p>My belief, based on me and what I see, is that people tend to walk very little, much less than they self-estimate. In my tests, I was covering only 3500 steps a day with peaks toward 5k a day. That’s only a few miles tops. Interestingly, it was the days I covered the most ground by car that threw me the most. Spend a day going to shopping centers, maybe a museum, out to lunch, etc. and I’d be at 4500 steps but thought I must be nearer 10k. </p>
<p>My point here is about arthritis and fitness not fitness generally. The increase in daily movement has greatly reduced my reliance on piroxicam. The most active joints are less painful. </p>
<p>It may help that I was not especially fat. But I decided to lose whatever extra weight I had and discovered that helped as well. Or at least I think that helped because I feel better but then arthritis is so variable that may be a coincidence.</p>
<p>Acupuncture helped control my hip pain better than anything else. I was an over-exerciser when I was younger and focused too much on high impact training. I was a runner and then did high impact aerobics/step classes for years. I also did a lot of dancing and danced through the pain for years - to the point of having tears in my eyes. I also was an avid horseback rider. Again, there were times when I would ride with tears flowing down my face. When I went to the doctor initially, I had self-diagnosed iliotibial band syndrome, but when the doctor tested my range of motion, he immediately ordered an xray. The doctor looked at the bone on bone hip joint and asked me how I got through the day. He said that I must have a high tolerance for pain, but knew that it had to be really impacting the quality of my life. He was right - I was in denial.</p>
<p>I know I have a high tolerance for pain, I just expected it would get better. Too bad I didn’t go to a dr before my cartilage was completely worn away.
I did have acupuncture today though, and that helps my asthma, so maybe it will help w this.</p>
). It reminds me of our 12 yr old van before we finally got rid of it. It was just one thing after another!</p>