Hi,
I have recently been recommended I have a rotational osteotomy and would like someone's thoughts on the matter. Starting at the beginning...
About 8 years ago I had pain in my knees. More so in the right. The pain was worse when my legs were bent, such as sitting at work. Walking was fine. There was also clicking evident. The pain got very severe at one point and I had been to the doctors on the NHS They thought I had rheumatoid arthritis so sent me to a rheumatologist. The rheumatologist said i don't have RA, my quads are weak so sent me to physio. The physiotherapist said my quads are too strong..... this went on a while as it takes weeks to get appointments with each. I got sick of waiting so I began stretching lots each day. I do martial arts so I had done lots of stretching in my life but I was not exercising much at this point. I then saw a private physiotherapist who believed my patellas were maltracking. he taped the worse knee up, pushing it to the outside. My knee felt perfect and the pain was gone so he gave my exercises to build the outside muscle on my leg up to pull the knee cap across. After a year or so my knees were fine.... some discomfort if sitting with my legs bent for too long but ok.
However, about a year ago the pain in my knees came back along with lots of clicking which hurts. My legs are more or less ok when they are straight, so I sit with them on a cushion outwards. When I straigten my legs they make a loud crack which hurts. I feel the knee cap go over something and it cracks in the same place. I can feel it move over a lump and even see it. I do a martial arts a few times a week as well as weight training, along with a lot of stretching as i did when I had the problem before. This takes the pain away for a while. For kicking, my legs click the first 1 or 2 kicks, then it is fine for a while. I had the same problems with the NHS as before so I went private and saw a surgeon who will treat me through the NHS. He had CT scans and "Rotational CT scan shows external rotation of the right knee to be 51 degrees and the left knee 54 degrees". I'm not sure what that means really. He recommended a rotational osteotomy but I'd like more information. Mostly, is this likely to cure my symptoms? I don't mind going through a large operation but I worry that it may not have been the cause or possibly make it worse. Also, would I be able to kick a bag eventually after such a procedure? I find it hard to believe after having my legs broken in such a way that I could kick into a heavy bag will full force.
I went to Spain a few weeks ago for a second opinion. I went to a knee clinic that has a lot of experience. At first he told me not to do the operation as other methods should be tried first. He also said my right knee was swollen so he drained it and gave me a cortisone injection and also gave me Vimovo to take. He was then going to do a durolane injection a couple of weeks later. After about 4 days my knee felt much better but a few days later it felt like it was swelling up again. I went back and he could not do the injection as my knee was too swollen. So he sent me for an MRI scan. That showed my bursa was inflammed. He said it may be becaise of maltracking and said that the operation the English surgeon recommended may be needed after all. We are going to try Durolane again so he drained my knee and gave another cortisone injection and I go back in two weeks. Hopefully it wont be swollen. He said its strange to swell up so quickly so I had a blood test for Rheumatoid arthiritis and also the fluid from my knee was taken to be examined. The blood test came back negative and I'm waiting for him to come back about the fluid. (I have the lab test results but it's just levels).
Could anybody help me or have any more info they could share. Sorry if its a bit long.
Thank you! 