I do not think my diagnosis is correct

In the past I had too many steroid injections in my hip and I ended up with the gluteus medias hip tendon pulling completely away from my hip bone. Has anyone ever checked to see if you have any tendon tears?

Did you have steroid injections in both knees?

cwm7128, Hey there. Have you had the hylauronic gel injections in your knees? It helped with my knee pain and
I am having to get less cortisone injections. Now the cons, my knees felt heavy for a while and they are stiffer.
I am not sure if the gel is causing the stiffness or not, but, I have gone longer without as much pain.

I am being told the same thing about knee replacement in my left knee. You may want to get a 2nd opinion.

Blessings & Prayers....

In your situation the doctor to see for a second opinion is a rheumatologist.
Get a referral from your primary and not from the orthopedist.

@cwm7128
If I was you, I would see an orthopedic spine specialist to check lumbar spine and hip/knee specialist to ask to have MRIs of lumbar spine, sacrum, and pelvis/hips/hamstring connections. I have many spine and gluteal/hamstring tendon issues and any compression, inflammation, injury can radiate down into legs/knees/feet.

Have you had a neuromuscular specialist do EMG/nerve conduction studies of your lower limbs to check nerve health/communications?

@cwm7128

Read more about possible issues with lumbar and sacrum plexus.
https://boneandspine.com/lumbosacral-plexopathy/

Hi cwm,

I'm sorry for what you're experiencing. You said you're not bone-on-bone in your knees, and that the pain is acute. At age 60, without a history of knee problems, TKR now seems pretty radical.

Back to the pain. What kind of shots were you given that relieved the pain. I'm not a Dr, but your pain sounds nerve-related, especially foot pain. I'd see a neurologist for an opinion.

FWIW I had both knees replaced on 2022, at age 67. I needed the surgery and it has turned out great. As long as there is cartilage, your knees should be fine. Again, think about talking with a neurologist before going too far with your knees.

All the best.

Joe

Are you sure the problem is in your knees? Hip, cartilage, and tendon issues can cause gait instability which puts undo pressure on the knees and makes them hurt. Before you embark on knee replacements, be sure the problem is your knees

cwm7128, you should ask for an MRI of your knees. That will tell you and your doctor if you need a total knee replacement. Just because your symptoms are different than your family members, doesn't mean it isn't the same problem. Different people may have different symptoms.....that's the same with anything. I didn't have pain in my hip, just my legs, but an MRI revealed severe osteoarthritis of my left knee. That was causing my leg pain. Doctors told me I needed a total hip replacement and I got it, and I'm now 100% pain free. Good luck.

I had a bad left hip. I also had left knee pain. After I had my hip replaced my knee pain went away. So this definitely could be referred pain.

I also had non symptomatic spinal and lumbar stenosis. When that finally became symptomatic, it did so by radiating down my legs.

It is very hard to identify the cause of this type of pain. If you can do so, the Mayo Clinic would be an excellent place to start. Otherwise see if you can see both a neurologist and a rheumatologist who like to analyze puzzles.