hurting knees

[Trainwreck]

I have been following this thread and my only thought is you are all lucky. I have had pain in my knee for decades, have done the stretching, strenghtening and PT stuff. I have hiked despite the pain, with most of my pain on the downhill, but recently it was on uphills, slowing my pace to a crawl...I own ALL the braces mentioned in the posts. I have taken any and all joint remedies, including homeopathics, and accupuncture. I do have RA since age 9.
My last MRI shows I am bone on bone and the whole joint is shot. I am scheduled for a total knee replacement next month. I am 'only' 49. I am hoping to get out there sometime next season. Don't ignore or push through pain. It is a BIG warning sign from your body. Heed it, or you may end up like me.
Good Luck.
Sandy

 

[pedxing]

Good luck with the knee replacement Sandy! I'll be watching and hoping for a trip report post-recovery.

 

[audrey]

Good luck Sandy! We'll have to make a ski date for ****NEXT**** year then. The rehab people will never be able to say you're lacking motivation.
--Pat and Audrey

 

[audrey]

I personally didn't find Glucosamine Chondroitin helpful, but maybe I wasn't using a good enough brand. I did find Omega 3 fish oil very helpful for my knees. Basically it’s an anti-inflammatory, so it reduces swelling.

I have been one of the lucky ones with the glucosamine-chondroitin. I've always used Walgreen's brand; I don't know if that meets some people's definition of a "good" brand. After three weeks of use my functional knee pain disappeared and when I get it occasionally now it certainly doesn't persist.

Pat's knees were fine when he started taking it as a prophylactic. After 4 or 5 weeks he noticed that his hands had stopped being stiff and painful in the morning. He has obvious osteoarthritis in the hands and the back, and he's had a total hip replacement for that reason. We'll continue to use it.

 

[hikehike]

I am scheduled for a total knee replacement next month. I am 'only' 49. I am hoping to get out there sometime next season. Don't ignore or push through pain. It is a BIG warning sign from your body. Heed it, or you may end up like me.
Good Luck.
Sandy

Hi Sandy,
I hope you the best with this. I will be watching the board to see how you make out. My heart goes out to you and I hope to see you on the trails someday!!!
Andy

 

[hikehike]

I felt your pain, Andy, and agree with most everything you said, having a similar experience myself.
Tim

Hi Tim
Thank you for sharing/redirecting to your posts. Lots of good information here which will definately help me and others. Thanks again
Andy

 

[hikehike]

I certainly have to agree that when I was younger I stretched very little and now I stretch a lot. My guess is that it helps, but there aren't a lot of controlled studies to prove this.

Thank you HWK for your comments. You definetly have to find your own way with your own personal issues such as knee pain.. I find, if nothing else, I feel great after stretching and my muscles don't seem to freeze up afterwards, if I do stretch... So for me with all of this ... it seems to have some type of benefit for me (among the other things which I mentined in my original post)... Thanks again

Glucosomine takes a while to be effective. A lot of people give up on it because it doesn't show immediate results.To work it has to be taken consistantly and for a long enough period for it to build up in the joints.

Yes, that is what I have read also (that it takes between 60 to 90 days to see results). But, I have to add that the name brand supplements worked very fast for me (within a week!). Here is what has been good for me

http://www.osteobiflex.com/

or

http://www.naturemade.com/ProductDatabase/prd_prod.asp?productid=73

Possibly it is the additional supplements which are also in these which are also beneficial. I do not know... but since I definely have gotten good results I take them ... Thanks for your post..

 

[Hiking with Kat]

I have been following this thread and my only thought is you are all lucky. I have had pain in my knee for decades, have done the stretching, strenghtening and PT stuff. I have hiked despite the pain, with most of my pain on the downhill, but recently it was on uphills, slowing my pace to a crawl...I own ALL the braces mentioned in the posts. I have taken any and all joint remedies, including homeopathics, and accupuncture. I do have RA since age 9.
My last MRI shows I am bone on bone and the whole joint is shot. I am scheduled for a total knee replacement next month. I am 'only' 49. I am hoping to get out there sometime next season. Don't ignore or push through pain. It is a BIG warning sign from your body. Heed it, or you may end up like me.
Good Luck.
Sandy

I certainly wish you the best, one of friends recently had a hip replacement,he is also in his mid 40's. Said it was the best thing he has done in years. Like you he was bone on bone. He can now ski and play tennis without pain.

You bring up the interesting point of just how much should you push your body. My knees hurt often after exercise and I can tell it is gradually getting worse (I gave up road racing a few years ago). I often wonder if I'd be better of doing less now so I could do it for a longer time, or if I should just enjoy what I can do. For now I've chosen the latter, only time will tell.

Once again, best of luck with the knees.

 

[kaseri]

I've hiked recently with a torn ACL. The pain was so great last hike that I've decided to not hike until I have it surgically repaired. My winter hiking season is over for this year but I'm in it for the long haul. I'll gladly give up a few months now for years of hiking in the future. Bottom line, get it checked out and go from there.