Hi all,
For about a week or so now my knee will bend but will not straighten up. It's very painful and stiff and no medication seems to be touching it. Any ideas on how to deal with this? Any remedies/exercises that could help me out??
Thank you
RAmeg
Maybe it's time to see a doc who specializes in knee replacement. It will give you back your life. Joint replacements is so much better than suffering with the pain of OA / RA IN JOINTS.
Have you been back to your regular GP with that knee.
Sounds as though you may have torn maybe meniscus, that would stop you being able to straighten up your knee, the little flap gets trapped between the bones and causes huge amount of pain when you try to use.
Not a good situation to be in I'm afraid, my Mum did the same, and was admitted to hospital took a specilaist to finally work out what was going on and an MRI to correctly indentify what the problem was.
She had to rest up for a number of weeks and then lots of physio, no surgery required in her case, took months of very gentle exercise but eventually it did come right.
Any cartledge tendon tear takes a long time to heal up, as Dr told me, with my bad hips muscles damage 6 weeks, if it is carteldge 12 weeks, he was right 13 weeks and one morning no pain after those 12 weeks of agony.
I've spoke to my Rhuematologist about this plenty of times but she has said because of me only being 19 it's not on the cards at the moment.
Then what was the rheumy diagnosis? Age has nothing to do with joint replacement. It about the quality of life. See another doctor who specializes in knee replacement. At least know what options are available to you. I know how painful this is and pain meds is not the answer. Also I wear spring shoes that take a lot of the psi out of the knee while walking. See online the different type of spring shoes and the details. Mabe another alternative for you. It has given me a lot of help! It teaches a new way to walk properly heel to toes knee joint moves only in the hinge socket.
So see if that may be a answer .
My Rheumo was no help at all, even though she knew my hips were really bad. Constnaly telling me to get the stress out of my life as stress was only making me worse, the stress was caused by my inability to walk, due to pain levels and dr's including rhemo would only give me panadol.
When I finally got to see orthopedic specialist at the hospital he was shocked at my condition, hip joint was effectively broken, comment was we should have seen you five years ago, long before you got this bad.
At that point tried to find me a bed, none available, sent home with surguery booked for 10 days later, developed a blood clot in lower leg 5 days before hip replacement, surgery cancelled, and re-booked for 6 weeks later.
I had an accident when I was 23, and badly hurt my hip, never was right after that, years and lots of money spent on physio's and Dr's, wasn't until after hip surgery it was found I had dead bone, not a very big piece in my hip joint, always as I had claimed for 40 years that it wasn't muscles but bones that was the root cause of my ongoing hip pain, of course as a patient I knew nothing.
Is it swollen too?
i guess it s hard to move around but it s so important to keep joints moving.
My right knee is very affected by my RA.(boggy, swollen , clicky and painful) However I have twice had the liquid drained off and steroid put in which has made a big difference. It only lasts for so long though. But I have found hydrotherapy( run by local arthritis society) and regular swimming very helpful in keeping the joints moving. It seems like a mammoth task to get there if knee is sore but I always come away feeling much better.
Hi Lyn,
Wow what a story. It's hard to imagine that no one ever did a X-ray of the hip area where the pain was from. I experienced a similiar experience.
In my early 40's I experienced serious goin and hip pain. Long story short after several Doctors and even surgery for a hurnia that was not there... Finally I Said my hip is the source of my pain and no one has bothered to X-ray my hip. The ortho dr took X-ray and there it was in black and white. OA.
I have had three hip replacements since then, it's a struggle to recovery. And well worth it. It's nice to have my mobility back and do the things I luv doing.
Hope you are doing well enjoying life.⛱
I had x-ray's that showed moderate OA, in hips, but did not show the dead bone in the hip.
MRI not done until I became really bad, should have been done much sooner than it was.
Nursing staff told me in Australia that if you have persistant pain for 18months or more the Dr's should be starting to consider something more sinister going on, and get a CAT scan or MRI too eliminate the possibilities, and or confirm there suspicions of just arthritis, this is what I missed out on.
Specialist was shocked when he saw my MRI at the hospital, and then even after that being forced to wait more than 6 months to see the specialist even after that MRI showed them the serious damage, public waiting lists, and GP's wishy washy letter that did not state what was going on.
Was told by specialist in no uncertain terms change GP you can do better than this excuse for a Dr.
I am a lot better than I was, baring leg length discrepancy, caused by the surgery, which I have struggled with, I am not a shoe wearer, when getting around the house, therefore very slow recovery.
I have porasis on my skin and especially my feet get very affected, and the more I wear shoes the worse the prosasis gets, so I am in a no win situation with shoe lifts, which I have on a few pairs of shoes.
Hi Lyn,
its always amazes me when I hear stories like yours. Some docs are just burned out and need to either retire or move on. When it comes to causing harm to patients there is no excuse and most time we as patients have no alternatives. Does the hospital have a patient advocate program theT may be a alternative to persue.
As the psoriasis on your feet go I can't believe this as I too have P. Have you seen a derm. I have been in remission for several years always staying ahead of spottin new out breaks. Also sunshine helps vit-D I'm sure you have heard a lot about that one. There are new meds available to help clear P. Going barefoot is also a way to obtain a secondary infection. If you have crack splits or rash.
You can find & wear shoes and inserts at some point even soft slippers lined in sheep skin will help with arche support for inserts for better balance.
Leg discrepancy is normal. Here is always that issue and the surgerical tables take xrays at the time after surgery and before to match leg length.
See online surgery on you Tube.
That said does not mean you may have a serious leg length descrepency. Our legs aren't the same length nor are our feet the same size normally always a difference. If you do have a leg length difference then your doc can fit you with inserts to put in your shoes. This may help with pain and balance hips, back and easer to walk.
I hope I don't come off as a know it all but I TRUELY have had P for many years and 3 THR. Many suggestions are simply to help.
peace and Heeling. 🖖
Have had P, my entire life, Mum said I was born with cradle cap, as it was called then, have been subjected to horror's as my Mum tried to wipe it out as a child, nothing made any difference, other than when steroid ointments came available.
I have burns/scars on my face from the very early treatments, and one of the steroid's that they never recommend now for face treatments.
When I was 50, I developed post viral syndrome, that turned out to be arthiritis or P arthritis or so the specialist tells me, on top of osteo Arthirits deveolping that was all I needed, have that family history of arthiritis as well, I am on Metrotretrate to control, bonus is it helps my skin as well.
Hospital denied to my face that I had a leg length discrepancy after my surgery.
I finally begged my new GP for a long Leg X-ray, that was very telling, and in some ways only complicated the issue.
I have 3/8 inch naturally below my knee, unidentified before surgery, no mention of it on my hospital file, and another 3/8 inch given to me in the length of femur during surgery, combined I have 3/4 inch imbalance, but remember the natural leg length I am used to that having grown with it my entire life, so I really only need a lift of 10mm or 3/8 inch, and the hospital denies me any help whatsoever.
I have been on my own with researching the issue, and even lawyers are saying all too complicated, and they don't want to go there either.
Have made a formal complaint to the hospital, not out fault, normal to have a length discrepancy, and you are within paramenters, yeahhhh right, I am.
I always think about my car going to the mechanics, they always check the brakes, wetaher I ask for it or not, as they could be held responsible if I had an accident in the next few weeks, after the check, my brother has a mechanical workshop and has told me its more than his business is worth not to check brakes, asked for or not, I don;t see any difference, they are both supposed to be professional's in their field, so why wasn;t my natural difference identified before surgery, and taken into consideration, GRRRRR makes me furious.
Hope4cure,
Thank you I will definitely look into the spring shoes. The Rhuematologist is useless when it comes to things like this. They constantly tell me that my RA has advanced a lot quicker than they hoped it would and it's got to the point where it's hard to walk.