My husband may be faced with a knee relacement in a few years. What can he do now to possibly correct/delay?

Question:

Dr.sys, it's bone on bone, but he has both him a little time after yesterdays surgery.Is there anything he can do, exercises, weight loss, to possibly avoid it?

Answers:
Take a high quality glucosamine-chondroitin supplement and MSM supplement. Together, they can help reduce the inflammation around the knee and often help cartilage regeneration.

GO TO THERAPY.

Ack, bone on bone! That's EXACTLY what my mother had. Due to osteoarthritis, she had no cartilage left.

I'm headed in the same direction. I have lost cartilage but still have some. However, I also have bone spurs. I'm hoping to avoid surgery and I'm taking a superior glucosamine product that's supposed to help my body rebuild cartilage so I'll let you know it helps.

There is an injection , actually it is a 3 injection series, the medication is called Euflexxa. It is injected at the patella region of the knee between. This placement helps with the bone-to-bone you are talking about. The injections are given once a week for three weeks. This can postpone replacement for several years and also has the ability to help with the pain associated with the bone-to-bone friction. Any Orthopaedic Doctor can give you more information about this intervention.

Change his diet, give the body what it needs. Mild exercise. And, take something to keep the swelling down so the joint can repair itself.

I am a Neuromuscular Therapist and chronic pain specialist.

Joint pain and cartilage loss are typically caused by postural distortions that place excessive strain on the joints. For instance, the pain many people experience in their knees or feet is the result of one or both hips being out of alignment, typically caused by muscular imbalances in the low back, hips or thighs. Doctors will focus solely on the site of the pain or abnormal wear in the joint while completely ignoring the cause of the pain. Muscles move bones, bone do not and cannot move on their own. If the bones and joints are out of alignment it's because muscles have put them there. The fact that your husband has bone on bone wear indicates to me that he has postural distortions, caused by muscular imbalances, that are placing excessive forces on his joints, literally grinding the cartilage away. It would be a mistake to focus only on his knees as the problem, the pain is merely showing up there. The knees only go where the hips tell them to go. What I see everyday in my practice as the cause of knee pain/ abnormal wear are things like the hips being tilted or rotated, overly tight muscles in the back or one or both arches being collapsed (also a result of knee/hip misalignment). Muscle imbalances, resulting in bone misalignment and joint pain, are caused by injuries, poor posture, obesity and faulty movement patterns, among other things. Your husband may also have a leg length inequality, which means one leg may be slightly shorter than the other. This is a VERY common condition among people with low back, hip and knee pain and is easily corrected without surgery, but you have to go to someone trained to know what to look for.

If your husband wants to avoid knee replacement surgery he MUST discover and correct what's causing the pain and abnormal wear and not focus only on the symptoms. Please, go see a Neuromuscular Therapist. NMT's are highly trained individuals who can determine what's causing the pain and correct the problem without using drugs or surgery. They will also be able to help your husband to help himself using stretching, exercise and corrective changes to reverse or minimize what has led to his condition.

You may also be interested in the book, "Pain Free- A Revolutionary Method for Stopping Chronic Pain", by Pete Egoscue. Pete is a movement therapist and his book explains very simply what causes knee pain ( and almost every other kind of pain) and cartilage wear and how to correct it without resorting to surgery. I have many of my patients use Pete's exercises/stretches with great success, they really do work.

Remember, your husband needs to be proactive and take responsibilty for his pain and how to correct it. With proper care and self-help, I am confident that he can avoid surgery and get out of pain by taking the time to identify and correct the cause of the pain and not focus on the symptoms alone. The cartilage WILL grow back if the excessive forces causing the wear are corrected.

My husband may be faced with a knee relacement in a few years. What can he do now to possibly correct/delay?

Health Resources