Been having a lot of knee pain in the left knee this past month after a lot of woods walking. Had an appointment with the pain doctor today for followup on the pain shots for relief of my back pain. While there I had him check out my knee and he gave it a couple shots for the pain, so will see how that goes now.
Can we get those shots by mail-order... or by email? :D
Usually, my knee pain is after being on hard surfaces rather than soft. But, it's not much pain, just normal ageing I suppose.
Was it Cortozone shots he gave you? That is the only thing they can do for me right now. The cushioing part of my left knee is going fast and only hurts after I get off of it actually. As long as I am walking it is not so painful.
Yes, cortizone shots. Your left knee sounds like mine. Hurts when I stop walking and especially at night when everything quiets down.
The pain doctor says that if the cordizone doesn't work for too long, then he can give a shot of what he called a sponze material, whatever that is. He said he will tell me when he thinks I will need surgery. The ACL is gone in this knee and I had surgery on the knee years back after a downhill skiing injury, so old age must have it acting up now. The other knee isn't much better either, since it has had previous surgery also.
My Father had a knee replaced. Before he did he used to take calcium pills. Claimed they helped him. Only pill he ever took,I think.He worked outside just about every day too.
The non-cortisone shot is probably hyaluronic acid, which is a precursor / nutrient of articular cartilage. I think the most widely used hyaluronic acid injection is marketed under the name Synvisc, but there are several of them available, all of which are basically the same. The theory is that it provides all the building blocks for cartilage repair. It used to come as a series of three shots. I think it's down to one or two now. Originally, insurance did not pay for this stuff, so the patient purchased it on their own through the doctor's office. I think that has changed and the cost of the medication is covered now. Don't hold me to that as it could well be geographically and specific insurance related. It was not cheap and I don't know the mark up added onto it's costs by the docs office. :-X
I am not a huge fan of this injection, only because I see many patients who have had it that say it did them no good. However, I have to weigh this bias against the fact that I would not be seeing those patients that are successfully treated with it. If it comes down to trying this or having surgery, i.e., knee replacement, it might be worth a try as a delaying maneuver.
I took that series of shots. It wasn't covered by my insurance but was suggested by my orthopedic surgeon as a last chance. It didn't hurt when they gave me the shot. It had to be done under a fluroscope, which meant that I was scheduled for an out-patient visit at the hospital. What really hurt was the cost of the material and the procedure to find that it didn't help at all.
I understand that what I had was some kind of concoction made from chicken comb. The doctor who did the injection told me that it would probably not do any good. I had already paid for it by this time.
Would I do it again? No.
I had a Synvisc injection 2 weeks ago. Not sure if it has helped much. The doctor said it could take 2 weeks until I notice if it helps.
Thanks Ron. As always I learn a lot and also gain info on things I had questions about. The over the counter medicine I take for leg cramps (Legatrin) helps at nights when it gets to bad. Mostly old age and the fact I hit around 600+ stairs a night here on the job is my problem I guess. I will go with out the surgery as long as I can. Seems strange that it doesn't bother me on the job as much as it does when I'm trying to relax after work. Stay safe.
Tom
Why did your shots require fluoroscopy? Did you have it injected in your hip joint or your knee? Fluoroscopy is definitely not needed to inject a knee, but required when injecting a hip joint.
The doc may have wanted to perform an arthrogram at the same time, injecting dye into the knee and then taking a series of pictures, which would use fluoroscopy. Most docs do not use arthrograms anymore as the MRI has replaced that test.
I got "Doglegged" today & feel your pain. My 70lb husky gave me a flying shoulder tackle to the left knee today, (2nd or 3rd time he has done it.) He has one eye with bad vision and was running looking back & nailed me... Not as bad as the last time but sure popped & snapped hyper extending it some. Its a little swelled tonight after working & mowing & shifting gears all day.
The last time I chucked the tennis ball up-hill hitting the basement wall & he took off after it. it bounced off the wall & came back past me he was already in full run coming down the hill watching the ball to catch it took me right off my feet, (he barely slowed down.) That one took me 15+ min to get back to my feet.
Mark
Quote from: Brian_Rhoad on June 04, 2011, 12:01:37 PM
I had a Synvisc injection 2 weeks ago. Not sure if it has helped much. The doctor said it could take 2 weeks until I notice if it helps.
That is to give enough time for your cheque/check to clear the bank :D
Only someone who has had knee problems would believe the kind of pain. I was scheduled for surgery last year, but the wait was long so I finally bought a really good knee brace- one of the metal ones that have a hinge at the knee and strap on with four straps. Mine is a Bledsoe. They list for about $600, but I found one on E-bay for under $100. The pain started to go away almost immediatly after putting it on. I have worn it every day and when they called me for my surgery I cancelled because I feel the knee has healed. I still wear the brace when I am doing heavy work, but I don't need it all the time now. I would really recommend it- just make sure you get one that fits properly and put the straps on in the correct order. The other thing thatt may or may not have helped it heal was comfrey ointment- made by a friend.
I blew my knee out about a year ago. Mine was the meniscus and let me tell you I have never felt such pain before. If I moved my leg wrong I'd see stars from the intense pain it caused. The pain pills would dull it but not really much else. For me it's taken almost a year before it started getting better. What really helped was doing low impact aerobics working up to longer workouts.
A really effective treatment for any kind of pain is acupuncture. I was introduced to it a number of years ago and was very skeptical of the effectiveness at first, but after seeing and hearing how favorable the results are in many cases I can not recommend it enough. And an acupuncture treatment is much less $$$ than a cortizone or rooster comb injection. My X wife introduced me to it she is a DVM, a licensed chiropractor and acupuncturist for both people and animals. Many times I have seen an animal treated by acupuncture and have immediate positive results. To me the animals were the best test cases because you could rule out the placebo effect, dogs, cats, horses, cows I have seen them all treated with acupuncture and respond favorably when nothing else seemed to work. I asked her the other day while a friend of hers was over visiting, who is also a practicing human acupuncturist, about the question of effectiveness for knee problems like what people here are experiencing and they both related to me cases about patients that they have treated or are currently treating which acupuncture has provided a longer lasting pain relief when the cortisone or rooster comb did not. One older fellow was a brick layer all his life and after the acupuncture treatments he got years more pain free use of his knees before more extensive surgery was required. I have had the meniscus problems in both my knees like Norm mentioned and was treated and had immediate pain relief. For something like that it also stimulates healing I believe. About a month ago I hurt my rotator cuff somehow one day while I was sawing lumber. The next day I was basically one armed, I could not manage to raise the injured arm. It had me worried because I had a lot of work to get done that required two serviceable arms. So I went over and had a treatment, I just sat down and relaxed in a recliner and she put a few needles in at various points, and then hooked up some electrodes to the needles that provided increased stimulation of the point. In just a few minutes I fell asleep sitting there. After 15 minutes she woke me up and I felt 100% better and was able to go straight to work with no more problems. Acupuncture... try it you might like it!
Although many traditional docs don't place a lot of faith in this alternative method, I do. I think that it is something a patient may wish to consider. My wife has used accupuncture, I have not.
I had the cartalige damaged in both knees playing football in high school. For many years if I stepped on something crooked I would fall over. I could not step sideways either. I had nothing done and for the last 20 years the problem has simply gone away by its self. ¿¿¿
I had about 15 years of pain following early knee injuries that has gone away also.
I could predict the weather better than any meteorologist based on how bad they felt when I first got out of bed. ;)
These days its my wrists that are talking to me. ::)
Pain came back into the left knee again. Had an appointment with my pain doctor today for the back pain which has been doing OK so far.He gave my knee a couple pain shots since I need to be in the UP the next couple weeks, but he said that it's now time for the orthopedic doctor to check the knee out since the knee pain came back so soon.
My experience with Cortozone(sp) shots is that this one won't last as long as the last one.
Had to visit my pain management doctor today for cortisone shots in the right knee again after 7 months. Now waiting for some relief after the pain flair-up.
I hope that all goes well with the shot Ron and you get some pain relief.
Some relief today, but need to stay out of the woods some.
Ron, how's your back doing now after the last procedure?
Have some pain relief. Still have a little soreness, but not the heavy unbearable pain that I was having, so hope that the procedure has helped and lasts pain free for awhile.