Re: bursectomy

[Guest guest]

Went to my OS appointment and the outcome wasnt really a pleasant

one. After reviewing my knee and what treatments had been tried he

said that I do have Oseteoartritis in the right knee (And most

likely in all the other joints that cause me problems) and about the

bursitis in the knee, well the only option left is to surgically

remove it. I am definatly not too pleased about this The

surgery date is scheduled for November 16th, 2004.

Stacey -

Are you going to be surprised when I say that there just might be

another one or two options you can try if you haven't already before

you resort to surgery?

I have osteoarthritis in both knees. So does my wife. So does our

big, overgrown puppy. My knees were so bad about six years ago that

I wore knee braces on both knees and walked with two canes.

There are two things I am going to recommend. Assuming that you are

not taking any prescribed medications that would contraindicate it,

I am going to suggest you look into Glucosamine and Chondroitin.

These two supplements have been proven effective in stopping

cartilaginous damage in joints, and in some cases, even reversing

the damage. Just one cautionary note about them - there are good

brands and there are brands that are absolute junk.

I wore the braces and used the canes for about four straight

months. It was about all I could do to just stand, let alone walk,

without them. Then I found out about Glucosamine and Chonrdrotin

and started taking them. Within a month, the pain was gone. I

haven't worn the braces since and only use the canes for other

reasons now.

The second thing I am going to recommend is Polarity Therapy. One of

the techniques is called the " X technique. " It is fiendishly simple

and incredibly effective. Take the tips of the middle two fingers

of each hand and put them diagonally on opposite sides of the

involved joint. The best way to find out where to start is to kind

of poke and prod around the edges of the joint looking for tender

spots. When you find one, put the finger tips of one hand there and

then just draw an imaginary diagonal through the joint and put the

finger tips of your other hand on that spot.

Now, it isn't just a matter of touching the spots. If your mind is

wandering off someplace else, nothing is going to happen. You have

to ground and center yourself, kind of get into a bit of a

meditative state. Once you do that, you simply hold the spots for a

couple of minutes and try to reach a sense of balance between your

two hands.

When you first start doing it, you probably won't feel anything. And

if you believe you won't, you won't. But what you are looking for is

a feeling in your fingertips that feels like an out of synch pulse

or wave. At times, it can feel really chaotic. I have felt it like

a swirling or corkscrew or just moving back and forth. But what you

trying to get to is a feeling that is even and the same in both

hands. I use this technique on myself, my wife, our dog, Barb and

Kerry.

It is easy to say that any results are just a placebo effect except

for one thing. Our dog hasn't got a clue as to what a placebo is or

what a placebo effect does. He does, however, have osteoarthritis in

his left knee so bad that the vet last November was talking about

total knee replacement surgery for him. Once we found out that it

was his knee that was bothering him and not his hip (like we had

been led to believe earlier before we changed vets) and I started

working on his knee instead, I can get him running around and

bouncing like a six week old puppy. He can get carried away running

around outside (and jumping off embankments) to the point where he

is literally dragging the one leg. Five minutes of work on his knee

and he is back to tearing around the house at a full run.

What is cute about it is that he has literally started to ask me to

work on him lately. If he is obviously hurting, I will walk up to

him and he will just lay down on his side on his own, stick his leg

out, wag his tail and look up at me. As soon as I kneel down next

to him, he will lean over and lick my hand and then flop back over.

When I finish, he usually gets up and gives my face the biggest

tongue bath you've ever seen. No, I don't think a placebo effect is

involved with this.

The other thing I would recommend in conjuction with the above two

if you have any swelling in your knee along with the pain is

lymphatic drainage to reduce the swelling and help flush out any

debris or waste particles in the joint capsule.

Your surgery schedule is still 10 months away yet. Surgery is a

pretty final option. None of the above can hurt and it just might

do you some good.

[Guest guest]

Hi Mike

Thank you for the reply and suggestions. I have been taking

Glucosamine and Chondroitin since september now and it was the brand

recommended by the OS/intern and it hasnt seemed to improve anything.

There is no swelling in my knee at all (Kinda confuses the OS) just

the inflammed / thikened bursa. He didnt think that drainage would

help as the bursa already seems to diminish and grow for no reason

what so ever. I will have to look into the polarity, is there

certain points that I should be looking/feeling for? Id say I would

try it now but really have way too many thoughts running through my

head so it probably wouldnt work Thank you for all the

suggestions though

Stacey

BTW Is the polarity thing like energy work? My boyfriend is really

interested in that