diatom
new member
I'm a 56 yo fit, very active, athletic woman. Every OS that looks at my xrays says both knees need to be replaced- lots of bone spurs, very bow legged, can't flatten my knees when outstretched, etc. However, my OA is lateral (outside of knee) and also involves the knee cap. Partial Knee replacement is not an option even though the medial (inner) cartilage, which takes most of the weight bearing, is good! Given the good medial cartilage, and the fact that I've always been very active all of my life so have good muscle strength around the knees, I am still able to hike quite a bit (5 miles) and bicycle intensely without a lot of pain. I use hiking poles and knee braces (Donjoy Reaction and Donjoy OA Reaction) to hike or do longer walks. Good handrails are a blessing on stairs- I use my upper body a lot to haul myself up and guide myself down stairs.
However, the day to day symptoms are slowly getting worse- after sleeping, or sitting for awhile, it's often very difficult to walk. After a couple of minutes, however, I do okay. Getting up from the toilet is sometimes challenging. At night my right knee often aches, but not intensely enough to take meds. I sometimes use OTC creams. I do not take any pain/inflammation medications (OTC or scripted) and never want to get into needing to. I do use tart cherry juice and herbal/homeopathic supps (glucosamine, chondroitin, Boswellia), and lots of gelatin. I also follow a low gluten diet (family history of Celiac disease).
I work part time and my husband will retire in less than 2 years. After retirement we plan to travel a lot. Our travel always includes hiking. Last summer, with the help of cortisone shots (only had this done this one time) our family (includes 2 teenagers) was able to hike over 100 miles over a month long vacation to the west/southwest. I know this kind of hiking is not going to be feasible with my worsening knees, thus I am looking at a bilateral replacement.
I have a hard time grasping TKR, however, when I look at others who are in almost constant pain and can hardly walk...I'm so far on the other end of the spectrum, yet I need new knees also. There is also the concern about "waiting too long", so that deformities related to the arthritis make replacements more difficult and less successful.
What to do ?????? Anyone have input?????
However, the day to day symptoms are slowly getting worse- after sleeping, or sitting for awhile, it's often very difficult to walk. After a couple of minutes, however, I do okay. Getting up from the toilet is sometimes challenging. At night my right knee often aches, but not intensely enough to take meds. I sometimes use OTC creams. I do not take any pain/inflammation medications (OTC or scripted) and never want to get into needing to. I do use tart cherry juice and herbal/homeopathic supps (glucosamine, chondroitin, Boswellia), and lots of gelatin. I also follow a low gluten diet (family history of Celiac disease).
I work part time and my husband will retire in less than 2 years. After retirement we plan to travel a lot. Our travel always includes hiking. Last summer, with the help of cortisone shots (only had this done this one time) our family (includes 2 teenagers) was able to hike over 100 miles over a month long vacation to the west/southwest. I know this kind of hiking is not going to be feasible with my worsening knees, thus I am looking at a bilateral replacement.
I have a hard time grasping TKR, however, when I look at others who are in almost constant pain and can hardly walk...I'm so far on the other end of the spectrum, yet I need new knees also. There is also the concern about "waiting too long", so that deformities related to the arthritis make replacements more difficult and less successful.
What to do ?????? Anyone have input?????