Pre-knee replacement?

[Yury]

Inspired by "Post-knee replacement hiking" thread I decided to ask my question in a separate thread.

I have an osteoarthritis in my knees.
I may need a knee replacement in a future but so far I am OK with my own knees.

It started as usually as a pain during descent and grew to a point that I was not able to run.
To ameliorate these conditions I started walking up and down stairs.
At first I was able to walk only 2 x 3 flights of stairs (20 m / 70 feet total elevation gain) until my knees were starting to hurt.
Gradually over years I increased it to ~600 m / 2000 feet (74 x 2) per training session and I do it about three times a week year around. I even restarted running again and am thinking about my first half marathon (I doubt that my knees would be OK with full marathon).

Could you please share your experience.
What do you do do delay progression of your arthritis?

I live pretty far from the mountains and travel to hike them only several times a year.

 

[Ken MacGray]

I delayed as long as I could but eventually got both knees done -- a partial in 2018 and a full in 2022.

Closer to the surgeries the only things that really helped were injections of cortisone, hyaluronic acid, and taking anti-inflammatories, but these can't be sustained long-term.

Now, six years out from the first surgery, I have no regrets, and more importantly, no more pain.

If you can try and strengthen everything around the knee as much as possible that will definitely help, but will only be a temporary measure as the joint continues to degenerate.

 

[NH2112]

My right knee is especially bad but the left isn’t exactly good. Right knee mobility is pretty poor, I can’t flex it 90 degrees without a lot of pain but I can physically pull it past 90° with less pain. If I hit my toe on something that jars my knee it’s really painful. Over the past year or so the everyday pain level has dropped from maybe 4-5 down to 2 on a bad day. I’ve hiked and snowshoed quite a bit in that time, pushing myself pretty hard without increasing the pain level very much. I’ve found that wearing my soft knee brace while sleeping has more of an effect than wearing it while hiking. I’ll ice it when necessary and take 1 or 2 ibuprofen per day. Most of the pain is from work, I have to kneel and stand, climb on equipment and ladders, all while wearing safety-toed boots. I’ve found that boots with a linesman’s shank help a lot because the boots, rather than my feet and lower legs, provide the stability when I’m standing on a ladder.

I will eventually need at least one knee replacement but the pain isn’t hard to tolerate now. It’s most painful at work, probably due to how heavy my boots are