{Disarmed} RE: New here

[Guest guest]

I’m not sure what my insurance company would cover if I went to the Seattle

area. The Dr that I used to go to is (or used to be) over there (we used to

live on that side of the state). I’ll have to look in to that.

Thanks for the website. I’ll be sure to check it out.

I did wear them for about half a day the first time. My left knee puffed up

pretty bad, so I took the shoes off. The orthotics don’t fit in any shoes

that are office wear type shoes. I can wear my tennis shoes to work (which

is what he put the orthotics in) to see if they will work, but I’m not

comfortable wearing them daily to work, I would need to find some shoes that

aren’t ugly and can be worn with dressy clothes. Fortunately, I only work

three days a week.

My PT is a really great one and does look at the whole body. If I can’t get

these to wear in without too much pain, I’ll have to give him a call. He’s

the one that fitted me for them. With our co-pay, it’s hard to go to him for

PT as it adds up too fast. I have two kids to keep clothed, fed, and

outfitted for school. I’ll give it another week and try to wear them

gradually increasing the amount of time I have them in the shoes. If it

doesn’t work, I can call him and get in to see him. I do need to exercise,

stretch, and strengthen more, but with as much as my knees are hurting, it’s

very hard. I’m not looking to have a TKR done…I’ll have to get to where I

drag myself out of bed before I go that route. I hate it that it has to be

so bad though. Seems like there should be something more they can do other

than knee replacement. I have been told by every Dr so far that I’ll need

two TKR’s sometime in the future.

Does the lateral retinaculum have anything to do with the ileotibial band?

I’ve told them it hurts to the side of my knee, but have already had the

lateral release on that knee. Because of that, they think I now have

Ileotibial Band Syndrome which, in turn, has caused the bursitis. So, now

I’ve been doing stretches for that. I ended up getting a cortisone shot

right in to the bursa so we could enjoy taking the kids to Disneyland

without me hurting so much. It worked but only for about a month, now it’s

back and as worse as ever. What I was wondering is if the orthotics are

going to help the bursitis? Or do I have something else going on like RA

(like Mike said he was tested for). I do have a half-sister that has RA. Not

sure if that even makes any difference.

Joi

_____

From: chondromalacia treatment

[mailto:chondromalacia treatment ] On Behalf Of MJD

Sent: Friday, September 08, 2006 8:09 PM

chondromalacia treatment

Subject: RE: New here

Hello Joi,

I'm sorry to hear that you are struggling with pain

and not sure what's ahead. Do you live anywhere near

a larger town, where you might be able to get a second

opinion??

If you go to www.kneeguru.co.uk/ you can look around

at that site to get more info on knees and procedures

in general.

As far as your orthotics.......new orthotics require

some wearing in time, so if you started by wearing

them all day, you may end up with some knee pain. Of

course, it's always possible that the orthotics are

changing the way you bear your weight on your knees

and it may be making things worse. I'd go back to

where ever you got the orthotics and talk with them.

I'm a firm believer in the whole body concept. If

your knees go into " guard mode " ie you walk

differently to guard the bad spots on your knee, it

can throw your hips, spine, back, and feet off. To

minimize that happening, I'd suggest that you find a

PT who also looks at the entire body and muscular

system, not just the knee and it's muscles. With

strengthening of the hip flexors, abdominal muscle and

back muscles, often times you can " carry " your weight

better over your knees. Nope, it's not a cure all,

nor will it make you feel 100 percent better, but I

believe every little bit we can do to help the knees

is worth it.

Knee replacements are an " end stage " fix. AND it's

elective, meaning that there are orthopedic surgeons

who WILL do them on younger people. But, it's not a

guarentee that everything will be fixed. The problem

with an early TKR (total knee replacement) is that

they are now lasting about 15-20 years (that's up from

10-15) but re- replacing them is difficult and can

basically cripple you. Say it lasts 20 years, you'd

be 64...still too young to be crippled. That said,

you also have to weigh your quality of life. If you

truly have no quality of life then who cares about 20

years from now..... It's a tough decision.

For myself, I know a TKR is in the future (I'm 48)

however, since I can function (just not as much and

active as I'd like) without pain meds for the most

part, I'll wait. Wait until I can't do simple things

anymore, wait until pain meds become a daily

requirement to get out of bed.....and once that

happens, I will demand a TKR no matter what age I am.

There's a lot of information out there, and there are

a lot of possible things that you can try to make the

pain less intense. Do your homework, talk to people,

get information on possible other doctors. Get a

consultation from another doctor (that's less

threatening to all parties than saying " second

opinion " ). Your 26 year history is important, you've

been through the wringer, you're not just " starting

out with knee pain " .....

If PT hasn't worked, maybe find another PT

person......stay as active as possible for it's our

muscles that are our best defense against knee pain.

A lateral release is where the doc severs (releases)

the lateral retinaculum. It releases the overly tight

lateral pull the lateral retinaculum exerts on the

knee cap.

Good luck,

nne

New here

Not sure if my other post came through, so I'll send

another. I was

diagnosed with Chondromalacia about 26 years ago. My

knees have each had

Arthroscopic surgery. My right knee had the patellar

shave and lateral

release. That didn't work, so the Dr did a bone graft

to raise the knee cap

up higher. That worked, but the pain has been coming

back worse and worse as

time goes by. That surgery was done about 23 years

ago. My left knee had a

patella shave and just generally clean up and looked

at. The left knee has

never been as bad as the right until recently. They

both grind and pop all

the time and I have had pain year round now for

several years. They don't

prescribe anything for either the pain or the

condition. I live in a

relatively small town compared to when the right knee

was worked on. I've

pretty much been told I have no cartilage left in my

right knee and very

little in my left knee and I'm " too young " for knee

replacement. That's too

bad because I feel too old at only 44!

Where can I get some info on things they have been

doing for those with

knees as bad as mine? I like the ortho Dr I have now,

but he's very

conservative and doesn't like to do anything other

that PT and that simply

doesn't work anymore. I do have orthotics, and just

got new ones, but my

knees hurt so bad after wearing them! I also can't fit

them in shoes

suitable for work. Any suggestions?

Another question.does the fact that I have

Chondromalacia indicate other

possible problems? The reason I ask is I've had hip

bursitis for about two

years now and can't get rid of it. The orthotics are

supposed to help

re-align my knees so is the fact that my knees are so

out of whack a

potential reason for other joint problems?

Last question.when they do a lateral release, what

exactly are they

releasing? I can't remember! It's been tooooo long!

Joi