I'm wondering if anyone has gone down this path?
A 53 year old worn out knee. I've had a lifetime of issues which I won't bore you with. I'm way too young for a knee replacement, but I've still got the HT550, Dales Divide, Bearbones 300 etc to do.
It's a lubricant rather than an anti-inflamatory. If it helps me limp along a wee bit more I thinks it worth a try
Any experiences out there?
I ought to as I’ve had the steroid a few times but its quite expensive I believe, an article I read about Sharon Davies led me to this site:
Knee Treatment
Hi happy new year. Not first hand experience but my dad also had this done at 57. He was given the option of a knee replacement (private) or the lube and chose to try the acid jab first as was worried that he would be worse off with the operation and would lose significant mobility (his knee was at a point where it was bad enough to cause him pain in the mornings and after longer walks but not bad enough that he could not continue with daily life) - he had tried steroid injection but got to a point where they did not work.
I think he had about 3 injections in the end which carried him through to 62. Then things were so bad he got a new knee.
One thing he keeps bringing up is he wished he had got the knee done earlier when he had the chance- the 5/6 years on jabs were really hard (I think he was masking the pain considerably) and he kind of got a new lease of life after having the knee done... Started going to the gym more, hillwalks and basically his fitness improved considerably, he became so much more active and his type 2 diabetes disappeared completely.
Sounds like you are well off this point yet and have much more life in the knee than my dad did 🙂 so jabs may well work much better for you.
As an msk physio its always a toss up if i read threads like this or not. My understanding is the evidence shows it no better than placebo. Steroid injections tend to pretty short term limited benefit as well.
I would say that we now know tkr implants last a long time and for the right person age shouldn't always be a factor but of course I don't know anything about your medical history so can't directly comment or advise.
Just had my 4th knee surgery at the beginning of November which is the last throw of the dice before knee replacement. Had 2 goes at steroids previously but they didn’t help all that much. Had a hyaluronic injection with steroid 3 weeks ago and early signs are positive. Post exercise pain seems to have lessened and day to day a bit better too. Swelling still prevalent but hopefully that will subside. I’m 42 by the way.
If I was you I’d get it replaced and do a good rehab and enjoy the new knee. You can deal with the revision surgery when you’re in your mid sixties. I’ve had the same as you in terms of pain for the last 25 years and it grates at you.
Not had those injections, but I did have some steroid injections before I had a partial knee replacement at 48 which helped and the steroid injections are just a GP job.
You're not too young to have total or partial replacement, it all depends on how much the pain and mobility affects your personal and work life. For me I was struggling with pain 24/7 to some degree, couldn't get comfy sitting at home, work, or driving; sleep was bad, and walking was real hobbly pain, but I could cycle all day.
It'll be 5 years since my replacement this July and I've not regretted it one bit. It's not perfect, I can't run a step without pain, proper hill/mountain walking is out, but I can walk 5-6 miles. Cycling wise I've done a couple of centuries since, but the main thing for me is too avoid low cadence high torque stuff like you might do off road; I've got gearing to allow me to sit and spin.
My main issue has been with the quad tendon post op, and soft tissue irritation in the knee bit that wasn't replaced particularly with rough walking. Ironically I've put on a lot of weight post op, I'm sure losing her again would help massively (keep trying but failing)
I guess what I'm saying is don't rule out a replacement. Obviously it's no fun having it, but I don't regret it one bit as I'm far more mobile and in less pain than I was before it.
Following about a year of a shooting pain in my knee whilst running I went to a specialist to make sure running wasn’t making things worse. Following an x ray I was advised it was early arthritis and whilst running wouldn’t accelerate the arthritis was offered one of these jabs. That was about 9 months ago and the shooting pain stopped within a week. Although I still have a dull pain it’s not the sharp pain it was before and I’m quite happy when running. Was told if it worked I’d probably need it yearly, so far I’ve not noticed the pain getting a worse but guess it’s not been a year just yet.
Hmmm that's how it started for me but the injections, it seemed, was masking the damage. Once its bone on bone it's too late. Oddly enough even though mine is classed as severe and i should have had an operation 5 years ago (too young being the excuse) cycling never affects it and on some occasions like today i can manage a 5 mile walk with only a little pain.