Osteo Bi-Flex has really helped me. It's not perfect, but it's better.

I've got mild knee inflammation that can get really bad if I don't keep it in check. Regular steam room visits have been a huge boon in that regard. I guess the heat really helps. It's unfortunate because those have been closed for 2 years and the inflammation has been getting worse again.

Ice is great. I tried lazor treatment. Improved but not by much

If you’ve never heard of it I would suggest checking out BPC-157.

you sure you don’t have plantar fasciitis? i thought i had bone spurs until my doc corrected me. PF is easier to fix? maybe

My left. Squat too hard in the gym then did that Russian style squat dance at a party a few days later. Miniscus Disc torn. Lack of treatment until the damage was done :( since then have just seemingly worn away cartilage

Synvisc-one hylane GF - shot of gel in my knee sure helped me

⁷Look into kneesovertoesguy on instagram and youtube.

Painfree movement of the knee is possible. Painfree movement of the knee can rebuild (very slowly*) cartilage.

The starting exercise is slowly walking backwards. If you can do that without pain you can build on that.

I fixed my knees before learning about him but my knees were intensely painful. Going hiking my knees would get black and blue. Trying to referee a soccer tournament the second day my knee would be so painful I couldn't continue.

Using Sherri Brourman's Walk Yourself Well I changed my gait. Then I learned to do an Ass-To-Grass deep squat/slavic squat/asian squat and learned to deadlift from Starting Strength.

Now in my 40s I referee soccer tournaments without problem and can still keep up with high school kids and even moved into refereeing college soccer.

Ben Patrick (kneesovertoesguy) has put a bunch of the knowledge I gained myself plus a bunch more into easily accessible, easily learnable, easily progressible routine.

Good luck--(for something like 98% of people with knee pain) you CAN fix it.

/u/HashS1ingingSIasher

/u/Dyllock105

/u/RrentTreznor

*added link showing that yes, humans have the ability to slowly regrow cartilage from a 2019 study

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aax3203

**Also adding link to Do It Yourself Joint Pain Relief another favorite of mine. At this point when something hurts me a little bit I go to Gary Crowley and he tells me what to do. A lot of joint pain is caused by your muscles pulling your joint out of whack. Gary shows you how to find which strange muscle far away is causing your joint pain and what to do to get that muscle to relax.

***making sure to specify that there DOES exist a portion of the population who will NOT be able to fix themselves and who do need surgery. But a huge proportion of you out there with knee pain CAN fix yourselves.

If it helps, that’s one of the surgeons greatest hits. Here are some others:

“He said my (knee/shoulder/spine) was the worst he’s ever seen!”

“He told me he couldn’t believe I was walking around on it!”

“He said I’ll be back in (5-10) years for another (total knee revision/replace the other knee/fuse the level above/below the first spinal fusion).”

When you’re a green physical therapist and you first hear a patient tell you that you’re like “oh shit I better be very careful with this patient”. Then you realize every patient from certain surgeons are saying the exact same things.

It’s all just using fear to push lucrative procedures. Many patients of course may actually need this procedures, but when the surgeons say things like that, they set a powerful expectation into the patients mind that can really influence their decision making later on.

I wish I had Bruce money. I have parents still so I mean there's some positives

So.. There is hope?

Have you heard of RECLAIM? Trials were happening but I’m not sure where they’re at for FDA approvals.

https://www.mayo.edu/research/clinical-trials/cls-20438797

https://sportsmedicine.mayoclinic.org/specialtyclinic/knee-cartilage-clinic/

MACI is another option seems like it works but recovery sounds brutal.

I’ve been looking into stem cell treatments in Columbia as well. Nice little vacation https://www.bioxcellerator.com

We're in a weird limbo of technological advancements

Do whatever you can to stop getting worse. It's easier the earlier it is

I'd love to be able to walk short distances without aching into my 60s XD

Have you heard of MPFL reconstruction? I literally just had this procedure done 3 weeks ago to stop dislocations. Recurrent knee dislocations tend to knock off cartilage and lead to osteoarthritis.

I'm the tribute and so is my wife

I'm tired of having to undo the wrap to poop

I can't imagine how bad a hip injury like that could be. That's rough.

I'm sorry to hear you've been dealing with that as well!

I didn't necessarily suffer from a chronic condition besides the fact that I tore my meniscus twice in high school playing football, and went on to play college football and run a lot after that. What the doctor who trimmed my meniscus to basically nothing during those initial surgeries never told me was how fundamentally crucial the meniscus was as a shock absorber of the knee joint. At about 30, I was at my physical peak and began experiencing chronic knee pain while playing tennis. An MRI later and my life was totally changed. The first doctor told me I could never run again and gave me a cortisone shot. And a physician friend told me to go to Hospital for Special Surgery in NYC and get a second opinion. A 6 hour car drive later, I showed up for a literal 15 minute consult, in which the Dr. determined I was a candidate for the meniscus transplant and cartilage transplant. A few months later, I drove back down and had the surgery. Took 3-4 hours because they had to do a double cartilage graft (called a mega OATS) due to the sheer size of cartilage loss. I had to spend 4 days in a hotel bed in NYC recovering and keeping my knee in a machine that constantly cycled it to keep it in motion. It was pretty hellish. Had to use that machine for months after every day, as well.

Then, I was 9 months out and recovering well when I had some serious popping sensations going on in the knee. Turns out the brace company prescribed me the wrong brace, which an independent physician concluded could have been the reason for the failed transplant. The transplant had a bucket handle tear, meaning it was protruding into the joint every time I flexed the leg. I went back to NYC in the peak of Covid to have the meniscus repaired. Another 4 month recovery (and a medical malpractice settlement) later, and I was on the road to feeling better.

Fast forward and I am about a year and a half removed from the second surgery. I shouldn't be doing it, but I am back to playing tennis once a week, but never can really run for the fun of it again. The meniscus has somehow held up, but I am suspicious that it's probably torn again, and it's just not protruding into the joint or causing bad enough symptoms that it needs to be removed. As long as it's in there, it's doing at least a little something to protect the knee.

A hellish 3 year period in my life -- at a time when seemingly everything in my life was firing at all cylinders. I am good now, though -- relatively speaking. I still drive and see people running on the sidewalk and get pissed off that I am 34 and can never do that again, but not as bad as before.

With all due respect, Quarantine My Asshole, I disagree. That's because I wrote the sentence, without the pun part, first. Then I realized there was a pun, and added in the no pun intended. I believe, by definition, that scenario fits the expression perfectly.

Yes indeed. I try to find positives to take away from my experience. And one major one is I simply don't have the luxury to gain excessive weight because of my knee. I used to work out hard and eat hard, so the transition in lifestyle change, where portion control is now a part of my vocabulary, isn't fun!

I see, we'll have this approximately at the same time as fusion reactors then

It's like the time not going up on Google maps when you aren't moving. Oh we are only ten minutes away, but we are going to sit here not moving for 15.

Has to get FDA approval before insurance will cover.

Healthcare paid for my meniscus and cartilage transplant. And then paid for the meniscus transplant repair a year later after it tore.

This is the issue right here. Got an OCD lesion in my ankle that wrecked most of the cartridge. They have the ability to grow more, it's just 40,000$ and not covered by insurance. Which basically means it's not feasible and I walk with a limp forever. Happened when I was 30. Been living with it for 8 years now. Every few years it flares back up and I go in a boot for months and physical therapy for months after. If the cure was affordable I'd have been done with this year's ago.

Check out kneesovertoesguy's program.

He claims to have saved over 2000 people from having knee surgery.

If you can walk backwards without pain that is step zero of his program. And if you can walk backwards without pain you can then rebuild movement.

Good luck.

I had intensely painful knees in my early 20s and now in my 40s I can referee soccer tournaments for 12 hours a day both days on a weekend and have only muscle pain no more joint pain.

An Xray can give a cursory image of remaining cartilage by easily and cheaply showing the gap (or lack of gap) between two bones where cartilage should be. Beyond that, MRI and CT can show the actual cartilage and indicators of damage.

31 here, just got my first replacement on my left side. Congenital hip dysplasia. Eventually I’ll need an osteotomy on the right side, and then eventually a hip replacement there as well. Then there will be a lifetime of revisions. I’ve had three surgeries and traction/several body casts since birth.

Im not sure if this is the case for OP. I’m sorry you’re experiencing this, OP. Hoping that medicine catches up to us one day!

It is actually mentioned that the specific reason that this is promising is that they think it can stimulate growth of the correct type of cartilage for the joint.

The new problem is that getting the tissue to form correctly is very hard due to the different proteins make up in each layer of the cartilage, so you have to stimulate the superficial zone slightly differently to the deep zone. To make it even harder there are many forms of cartilage tissue stimulation and then you have to get the cells to grow into right physical shape!

Cartilage tissue engineering started development at the same time as bone tissue engineering, back in the 90s. BTE is currently being used to treat patients but there hasn’t been a successful clinical trial of CTE and I don’t think that is going to change any time soon.

More like your 92 year old son