knee surgery upcoming

[DrBee]

Well - I finally talked to the doc. The MRI was "unremarkable" for the right knee, but there are things visibly popping and rolling above the patella and to the right. I have arthritis/chondromalacia in the left knee - likely caused from all those years of being a ballet dancer and having major tracking issues with my knee (fixed with lateral release surgery) - also exacerbated by my big crash a couple of years back. Sooooo - I'm going to have diagnostic arthroscopy on both, so he can see what it really looks like in there. The x-rays and MRI do not exactly match up with what I'm feeling. The good news - the patellar tendonitis in both knees is almost gone. PT (with ASTYM) is working great for that! I love PT's!

The doc promises me he'll get me back on the bike!

[DDH]

Good luck, I hope everything works out great for you.

My husband is going to have to have knee replacement surgery probably in a few years. Both his knees are real close to bone on bone and he has no cartiledge left in either.

I know it's not the same as your but knee surgery (I hear) is tuff regardless.
My MIL has knee replacement on one knee, many many years ago, and my mom has had both replaced. My mom seemed to do fine, and my MIL had a terrible time with it. Regardless, both are very very happy with the outcome.

[DrBee]

thanks for the well wishes! The surgery is now scheduled for the left knee for the 22nd of July. He's going to go in and clean out the crud that's accumulated and maybe do another lateral release. Yuck! Then we work on the right knee. PT is done for now, though! Yippee!

[maillotpois]

Wow - I hope it all goes well for you. Glad the PT is done - but I am sure you will have more after the surgery, right?

[DrBee]

Thanks MP! Yup - probably will have PT for a month or so. It depends on what he finds when he goes in and has a look around.

He said this is the first time he's done a second lateral release on someone and expects a lot of scar tissue to get through. I'm not sure what that says about me and my knees. This guy is the LSU athletics orthopedic - he's surely seen a lot of knees! You should have seen the look on his face when I told him I had been a ballet dancer for 8 years (causing the initial injury). He said ballet was worse than football! Yeesh!

The last time I had a lateral release, I lost almost all range of motion. That's not fun to regain. And I'm 17 years older. At least I have a good PT!

[TahoeDirtGirl]

I had knee surgery over 2 years ago and it was for a torn meniscus as well as a debridement and retrieving bone fragments. Yeah what fun~ with that, it took me a while to get back to normal, and the thing I found most helpful was water therapy which got me to walk normal. Many PTs might poo poo it to be used only with really disabled people but I found one that worked with me as well as researching it on my own. I got so good at it I incorporated it into strength training with people I do personal training with and attended a workshop last year to learn more aqua therapy practices with Ruth Sova. So if you find that your PT is plateauing, check into water therapy. Helped me alot and I still do some things when it gets a little tight. You will always need to do the stretches they teach you in PT or it will start to get tight. And as soon as they tell you, start walking!!!! Mine now gets grumpy when I don't ride, imagine that! Good luck!!!

[DrBee]

Thanks for the info! I will look into aquatherapy for sure! Since I have also been through this before, albeit I was much younger, I kind of know what to expect - at least as far as the lateral release goes. I'm sure the debridement will only make it worse. I'm also replacing the pedals on my bike. I had spd's - 'cause I wanted mountain bike shoes and didn't get any advice otherwise at the LBS I used to go to in MS. Now that I'm close to much better bike shops, I will go with some speedplays. I'm still deciding on which type though. I'm getting them put on this week - before surgery.

checking into aquatherapy now...

[TahoeDirtGirl]

That's funny because I am still pedaling platforms. I tried SPDs because they were supposed to have the most play but they just really bothered my knee. Now that ride the road more, I do use SPDs on the road with a combo pedal where there is a platform on the other side, but clipless on a mtn bike probably won't be happening with me unless it's one of those rides that's rolling with no technical stuff.

I also find that when I go downhill my knee with start to bother me, I'm not locking it up but I think I'm tensing something in my knee??!

The debridement I'm not sure what it might do because that was my first surgery. Sticking something in a joint capsule and fishing around will bother it much less smoothing out the rough spots. I noticed the year after I had it done I was doing great, I just need to keep up on getting in the water as well as stretching. I've totally fallen off the wagon on that one. Didn't have a lateral release although they though that I might need it after the surgery but with good PT (patellar manipulation was what helped me alot too) you will be breezing through.

[DrBee]

Breezing through would be nice. I started with platforms on the roadbike, then loved being clipless, but not the way the SPDs made my knees feel. I always felt like I was ripping them apart when I was unclipping and never felt like I was in the right position when I was riding. And I did a lot of riding on those pedals. I think a big part of my problem is that I haven't ridden much in the last year. Life has taken over, ya know. But I'm getting back out after this surgery mess is over. I'm going to make the time.

That downhill problem is interesting. Tensing it the whole way downhill cannot be good. It must be something like that.

[TahoeDirtGirl]

One can only hope it's breezing through. I'm starting to think I might need another clean up on my knee, which I don't really want to do.

If anything, keep up with the stretches they prescribe during PT. I notice that when I start doing them again, everything seems to work better.

I can't do clipless primarily because I have to change position so much, they do have enough play in them but I find I have to wiggle around alot and it's just not working with clipless. That and I injured my foot in October and clipless on the road now really bothers it. I'm just thankful I can continue to crank circles on platforms!

[DrBee]

Another clean-up? I can see why you wouldn't want to do that. I keep saying how this seems so goofy that I'm walking better now that the tendonitis is improving and now I'm going to have surgery to make me walk worse...so I can walk better and ride my bike. Goofiness. but - as I lay there on the floor doing my stretches and such, while watching the TDF, I realize that it will be worth it to be able to ride my bike again without hurting so badly!