Knee Cartledge Tear Recover + Gel Injections

B

benelson101

0
Hey all.

Ive just had a operation to remove a tear in my right knee cartledge. Was supposed to be a single tear removal, but when they were in they they had to remove a second main tear and some 'shredded' cartledge too. Overall, i've lost 40-50% of what should be in there.

Im going back in 6 weeks for gel injections to the knee, has anyone had these? Ive googled my eyeballs out but cant find much out about them.

Also, has anyone got any experience of recover from this injury/operation? I previously played football/soccer but that stopped when the treatment started, weight train pretty seriously and enjoy a range of sports and am concerned at how the op will affect all these long term.

Thanks in advanced

Ben
 
Knee gel

If the gel injection you are referring to is Synvisc or Hylagan, yes i have had these. It is a series of 5 shots of an extemely viscous solution (similar in thickness to karo syrup). Because of the thickness of the material, they use a large guage needle, not painful but not pleasant either. The good news is that the product is amazing, my knees felt wonderful after the first shots and got amazingly better thru the series. The effect does wear off somewhere between 6 months and a year. Good Luck.

Rich
 
I had 70% of the cartiledge removed from my right knee in 1984. Unfortunately I also had a partial tear of the crucae ligament, which although teh remaining portion eventually gets as strong as the original complete tendon was, it ends up longer and so there is toomuch play between the thigh and shin, but that is another matter. After I had arthroscopic surgery I started doing leg curls and leg extensions, at first without any weight 100 repetitions per leg, then using the smallest weight in the machine and increasing the weight gradually over a couple of years. The heavier the weights got teh better the knee felt. For many years (20+) it was relatively painless as long as I did leg extensions and leg curls a couple of times a week, but as I reached my early 50's it started to ache a lot. I assume it is from the thigh and shin bone rubbing together. I never had injections of any kind. I'll have to ask my doctor about them. I think there is another procedure where they remove some heathy cartiledge and grow it in a test tube and reinsert it, but I don't know of anybody who has had that done or how successful it is.
 
1984 must have been a tough year for knee injuries, because I tore my right ACL completely in 1984 at age 25 playing softball. At the time, I was given an option of major surgery (arthroscopic was still new at that time and my injury was not a candidate for it) or not having the surgery.

25 years later and I have gotten by just fine without that ACL. Caveat: I cycled competitively (well, I tried to be competitive) before the injury, cycled consistently since then, and am back to trying to be competitive. An orthopedist I saw years ago, after the injury, was surprised at how well I was doing but when he found out how much I was cycling said, "...well that explains that...".

Sorry I wasn't of any help with your question.
 
No thats great tanks

When the doc came to see me to tell me they'd taken out more than planned he had such a grave face on him it was almost as if id never play sports again.

I know ive got to get the muscles aorund the knee as strong as possible, just didnt want to go so far that i end up injured again.

Thanks again.
 
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