Probably in part because we’re taking out cataracts before they are truly disabling.
For you guys with knee problems, did the pain seem to come on gradually, or did you all of a sudden have pain? I’ve been fine until know, walking 10-20 miles per week most weeks, with little problem. All of a sudden on Sunday (after standing for about 4 hours at the Paulee grand tasting, but I don’t necessarily think that was the cause), I had fairly sever pain in my left knee, on the inside, upper right forward part of the knee. More sever pain lasted a couple of days, and it’s improved substantially, but I still notice it. I don’t remember doing anything unusual, didn’t fall, hit it, move in any strange way that I can think of before the pain came on. Haven’t contacted my doctor yet, figured I’d ride it out and see what happens over the next few days.
Gout?
Also because people who are immobile die a lot faster.
Btw, CABG is #1 by A LOT. People that need it that don’t get it die reasonably quickly and have poor quality of life doing it.
There are a lot of therapies that are effective and help patients, but at least by the #s those are the top 3.
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Interesting. I’ll have to dive a little deeper into understanding that one…
On a related note (since you seem to have done a decent amount of research on Semaglutide benefits)…
Your thoughts on the article below? The headline declares that they may reverse damage from OA, but the article itself seems to focus on the “protective” aspects; that is, preventing impacts of OA on joints, rather than reversing said impacts.
It’s probably both, as whether OA gets worse has to do with the balance between tear down and repair.
In my case, it was definitely gradual. Initially, it presented more as lack of coordination in my running gait, and then some amount of increased instability in the knee joint (occasionally feeling like my knee might “give out”). Began working with a PT after a running gait analysis, and we identified a number of gait problems, that seemed to stem from my body implicitly implementing guarding behaviors to protect the knee. My PT was smart enough to recommend getting an MRI, which revealed the OA and meniscus issues in my knee.
One interesting side note… I’ve had multiple Sports Med Ortho docs tell me that they see quite a bit of variability in the correlation between the level of degeneration shown in imaging vs the level of clinical impacts that people experience. In other words, they sometimes see images that show significant deterioration and, yet, the person is highly active and not reporting much pain or loss of function. And, conversely, people who are practically invalid due to loss of joint function, but who’s imaging doesn’t look so bad. As one doc reminded me, “… treat the patient, not the image …”
Thanks for the comments. Sounds like we’re thinking similarly. I did try some sort of plasma/red blood cell therapy (not sure what the official name was), but injecting my own cells into my knees. I think it helped briefly, but may have psychological or the PT alone helped. Not optimistic that it re-grew anything.
I had a really great bottle of wine last night, but I can’t remember what it was. So I dug around in the recycling bin until I found a good candidate. It might have been the right bottle.
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In my case knees have been sore for years. Played a lot of racketball and tennis and a fair amount of running on the streets from the time I was in my mid-20s through today. Just wear and tear. First meniscus surgery was in 2000.
I actually do remember reading about this treatment a while ago. The article seemed to focus more on its use for folks who have had an acute injury that impacted otherwise healthy cartilage – as opposed to those of us who have more extensive degeneration/loss of cartilage from chronic conditions like OA. There’s even an explicit statement in the article that appears to temper expectations in those cases:
“… CartiHeal implants are not intended to treat extensive injuries or severe arthritis …”
(though it’s not really clear what “severe arthritis” covers in this context)
That being said, it’s probably worth a discussion at my next Ortho consult…
Yeah there are some treatments in Europe that are designed to treat people with 100% cartilage loss.
Sounds like you had PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma) injections.
I haven’t had PRP, but I have tried Hyaluronic Acid injections a couple times over the past few years. Did them in the spring for 2 consecutive years, before the start of triathlon season. Can’t say I noticed any major changes in the few months after the injections. But it’s hard to really know, as I don’t know what my experience would have been over that time frame if I hadn’t had them. And I suspect the placebo effect is real among people who have HA or PRP injections.
The feedback I received from multiple Ortho docs was pretty consistent – some people report great results after PRP or HA, while others report no improvement at all. And there don’t seem to be any specific factors that account for that variability. I haven’t done any injections the last two years. However, if my OA impacts worsen, I may try PRP before progressing to replacement (though PRP ain’t cheap, and generally not covered by insurance…)
Modern medicine is amazing: (now 70)
Had a hip replaced about 15 years ago. Came on fast and was very painful. No problems since.
Just had my lenses replaced. Not bad cataracts, but sooner rather than later. Very good results.
On Humira for psoriatic arthritis. Couldn’t open a water bottle. Now I’m just fine…miracle drug.
And, I take covid boosters whenever they’re available!
Proponent of health care for all. Why should the poors/not well-employed suffer?
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That was it. Figured it was worth a try before going down the knee replacement path. Got what I paid for.
My wife had knee replacement. Now she only has problems with the other knee.
As the expert noted, cataract surgery is a breeze these days. Both my wife and I have had both eyes done.
I am hoping that they can do brain replacements sometime soon.
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I’ve had both hips and one knee replaced - all done when i was in my late 50s/early 60s. The hips were congenital. The knee was the result of an HS football injury. Now my other knee is getting bad enough that it needs to be replaced too. My thought is that hips are really easy, but knees require pretty intense “prehab” and rehab. I currently weigh about 15 pounds less than I did for knee #1, and I’d like to drop enough 10 pounds before i have surgery - hopefully sometime in the second half of the year.
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Do you know what surgeon you want to use or do you go where assigned?
Disclaimer: just shy of 68. Woke up this weekend with this pain and tight/stiffness in one of the forearm muscles, anterior side just past the elbow. Was like “wtf is this shit?”
Mentioned it in passing when I headed over to the kids Sunday to spend time with them and the grandkid. Mentioned it again to my daughter when she came over for work yesterday, still thinking “how the fuck did I do something to my right arm? I mean, I live the life of a slug.”
She pointed out it probably was caused by picking up my grandkid.
Duh. 
This getting old shit . . . .
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