Non-injection treatments for arthritis in knee

Hi Lori,

Thank you for your kind words and recommendation. I had not heard of the circulation cream you mentioned. So thanks and I'll check that out. I didn't know lidocaine was available as a 5% cream, thanks for that info.

I use the 5% patches on my left shoulder so I can sleep at night. The bad news is that I need to get that shoulder replaced. The good news is that my rotator cuff muscles are all intact, so I'm eligible for an anatomical TSR rather than a reverse.

I had my right hip replaced about 8 weeks ago. Things were going great until I did a stretch for my IT band that I was clearly warned not to do (my fault, I was feeling great, back in the gym, and had been doing that stretch for 30 or 40 years.....). I dislocated the replaced hip. Ouch!

I was going to get my shoulder replaced in June. Now I'm going to wait and give my hip a real chance to heal, and do the shoulder next year. I can still do just about everything I want in the gym, but no more crossing my feet, bending forward and putting my palms on the floor. And dammit, at 70 y/o I was proud of that stretch! But pride cometh before the fall, literally a fall.....

Joe

That's great news detc. Put off a TKR until there is no other treatment and the pain is present every day.

It really depends on the individual, their age and their physical make up. Surgeries should not be put off if there are certain circumstances present i.e. the pain begins to limit one’s activity level and so muscles in the vicinity deteriorate. Once that deterioration occurs with older individuals their muscle strength cannot be restored; in addition, if cushioning between the joints is eroded too much during the degeneration both the mechanics of the body are thrown off, causing consequence pain and damage and nerves become impinged. If nerves become impinged and stop serving extremities, other consequential damage like neuropathy and radiculopathy occur. I am a case in point. My lower lumbar surgery happened years too late because I was at a neurosurgeon and not at an orthopedic surgeon. The neurosurgeon would’ve not recommended surgery until I was incontinent and my feet experience foot drop. He offered me nothing so I said I would go home and take the opioids which were fine. Then he sent me to an orthopedic surgeon which was shocked when he found my discs had fallen out completely, and my vertebrae’s had grafted together. I did my own laminectomy infusion, lol! In that process, as I stated above all the other things I suffered, which could not be repaired even with the tremendously successful lumbar surgery, my orthopedic surgeon and his team did for me. Do not wait if you have pain every day and the nerves are involved and you experience weakness. If those can be attended to, then surgery should not be delayed. @heyjoe415 is an overachiever, and he is able to delay his surgeries by extra extraordinary amounts of exercise. But their reaches a point where exercise can also be damaging as he stated. We are all ever-aging and we have to accept some inevitable abilities about that. I definitely am guilty of not accepting my aging and degenerative condition.. I do believe that pain every day is unacceptable and I work at offsetting that every day pain with every tool in my toolbox. I also work with my surgeon 2 to 4 times a year to see where I am in process. I have to be creative. My surgeon told me last visit that any surgery he does from here on out. I’m only going to recover 80% out of 100 after the surgery. That means surgeries have to be judiciously selected. One’s goals for their geriatric years have to be considered. Adjustments to goals with the body deteriorating (degenerating) before my eyes also causes me to reevaluate. I hope Joe follows his doctors orders and since I’ve had both hips replaced, I do know the second one we are compromised and not as strong or in the same condition as when we had the first. That is quite quite an eye-opener. On my first hip replacement I considered the home exercise before and after for babies, I was shocked when the same exercises were presented for my second hip surgery two years later– – they were CHALLENGING! That is why joe dislocated his hip. His muscles weren’t strong enough to hold the hip in place and he defined doctors orders (bad boy, bad boy!) Don’t worry, Joe you will be able to do those exercises again. You just have to wait for the healing and establish that goal And work with your team to monitor a safe path for you to get there. We also have to realize that we might’ve been hyper mobile in our joints before surgery and with full joint replacements we might not be as hyper mobile in the way they put us back together. That is something to have a conversation with your surgeon about. thank you, Joe for encouraging me to get back into a more aggressive exercise routine after a month and a half. I’m really feeling the benefits of less neuropathy and radiculopathy in a natural way without Cortizone injections and surgeries. I hope you will heal quickly!

I had the gel done in both knees. My insurance did not cover it, but the company gives a great discount. I paid $300 for 3 shots per knee. It was worth it.

Andrea

Thank you for such a thoughtful reply Lori, very kind.

And you're right, I'm an over achiever and a bad boy at the same time! Had I only given a little more thought to what I was doing, the dislocation could have been avoided. I'm grateful for and humbled by the experience. The incision from hip replacement healed so quickly and I felt so good, anything was possible. First thought wrong, as usual. I am grateful though for 1) learning a valuable lesson, albeit the hard way and 2) there was no damage to surrounding tissue or the sciatic nerve. Dislocations are very serious injuries, as I now know.

Loved these words from you:

"We also have to realize that we might’ve been hyper mobile in our joints before surgery and with full joint replacements we might not be as hyper mobile in the way they put us back together. "

This especially applies to people who are in the gym a lot. I admit it, I had a sense of invincibility about me from the work I've done. That arrogance cost me. So a lesson in humility was also in order.

And you learned the hard way what happens when we delay. It is mind boggling that some of your vertebrae degraded and fused. My lumbar spine has every pathology you can name. Even so, I see my surgeon at least once a year, get X-rays, and hope for the best. My surgeon has said my core conditioning is the best defense now against fusion surgery. But at 70, I'm not fooling myself. At the first sign of problems, like sciatica, I'll be back to see him and, if necessary, get the fusion as much as I dread that surgery.

Thanks again Lori. It sounds like you're doing well now. Great job!

Joe

I'm glad the shots worked for you Andrea. A friend recently had gel injections in his knee. He said his knee hurt for about two days after the shot. Did this happen to you?

It might take a day or two for the gel to settle in the joint. Not sure.

Thanks Andrea.

Joe

I didn't have any soreness at all. I felt the difference the next day

That is terrific! I'm happy for you! Chronic pain and soreness in the joints, any joint, disrupts a lot of things in life, like sleep. I'm so glad you got some relief.

Joe

I had the (hyaluronic acid) and it worked good for a month and then wore off. Went back about 8 months later and nada. Good luck!

Even better than the voltaren (diclofenac) gel is the diclofenac patch which can be worn all day. It is prescription in the US but you can get it from overseas pharmacy without a prescription. It works better than the gel and is not messy.