United States
Hi all -
Trying to see if anyone has had any experience with anything related to my situation.
I’m 52 male, active, snowboarder (until recently), with lifelong mild knee issues in part due to being knock-kneed. In more technical terms I have a valgus deformity of about 8-10 degrees although that’s gotten a little worse now that the meniscus has worn away on that side.
I’ve now got some bone on bone situation in the lateral compartment of my right knee, which makes sense given the extra forces being knock kneed puts on the outer part of the knee. (For the record I also had an ACL reconstruction on that knee 20 years ago.). I can’t snowboard anymore, stopped running or anything like it a long time ago, and the range of activities I can’t do is increasing. Also it just hurts a bit pretty constantly; not terrible, but a bit.
I’ve been seeing doctors about what to do and have been offered two options.
1) a Distal Femoral Osteotomy or DFO to straighten the leg and correct valgus and thus take pressure off that lateral compartment, 2) a lateral unicompartmental knee arthoplasty or LUKA, aka a lateral partial knee replacement, Or 3), do nothing, give up being so active, and just deal with the worsening knee.
One expert doctor who specializes in DFOs says I should do a DFO; another expert doctor who does both DFOs and LUKAs suggests I do a LUKA, also known here as a lateral PKR, in part because where my cartilage has worn away to bone on bone is more to the rear of the knee and he thinks the DFO won’t help much.
I understand I’m done doing really high impact stuff like running, but the hope is to get the knee on a better path for the rest of my life, and not do some big surgery and end up the same or worse than where I started.
I have no way to determine which of these doctors is right, so I’m looking for any real world experience from people.
My understanding is that both these operations are fairly rare - most partial knee replacements are on the medial side, not the lateral side - and I’ve had a hard time finding information about outcomes for patients who have a valgus knock-knee deformity like mine. So I’m hoping to any other knock kneed people like myself who have done either of these surgeries, or anyone who’s had either a DFO or a lateral PKR, or anyone with anything to add in general.
Thanks!
Trying to see if anyone has had any experience with anything related to my situation.
I’m 52 male, active, snowboarder (until recently), with lifelong mild knee issues in part due to being knock-kneed. In more technical terms I have a valgus deformity of about 8-10 degrees although that’s gotten a little worse now that the meniscus has worn away on that side.
I’ve now got some bone on bone situation in the lateral compartment of my right knee, which makes sense given the extra forces being knock kneed puts on the outer part of the knee. (For the record I also had an ACL reconstruction on that knee 20 years ago.). I can’t snowboard anymore, stopped running or anything like it a long time ago, and the range of activities I can’t do is increasing. Also it just hurts a bit pretty constantly; not terrible, but a bit.
I’ve been seeing doctors about what to do and have been offered two options.
1) a Distal Femoral Osteotomy or DFO to straighten the leg and correct valgus and thus take pressure off that lateral compartment, 2) a lateral unicompartmental knee arthoplasty or LUKA, aka a lateral partial knee replacement, Or 3), do nothing, give up being so active, and just deal with the worsening knee.
One expert doctor who specializes in DFOs says I should do a DFO; another expert doctor who does both DFOs and LUKAs suggests I do a LUKA, also known here as a lateral PKR, in part because where my cartilage has worn away to bone on bone is more to the rear of the knee and he thinks the DFO won’t help much.
I understand I’m done doing really high impact stuff like running, but the hope is to get the knee on a better path for the rest of my life, and not do some big surgery and end up the same or worse than where I started.
I have no way to determine which of these doctors is right, so I’m looking for any real world experience from people.
My understanding is that both these operations are fairly rare - most partial knee replacements are on the medial side, not the lateral side - and I’ve had a hard time finding information about outcomes for patients who have a valgus knock-knee deformity like mine. So I’m hoping to any other knock kneed people like myself who have done either of these surgeries, or anyone who’s had either a DFO or a lateral PKR, or anyone with anything to add in general.
Thanks!
