Exercise for arthritic knees?

[scrmblr1982cj8]

One of the issues in dealing with doctors is that they do not give much credence to anything not taught in medical school. Modern medicine does not have all of the answers we seek.

 

[coyotezapper]

I have now had three rooster comb injections in the last 4 weeks and my knees feel young again. I have not done any road work / running yet, but I am doing weights and plyometrics with no problems. Now if I could just draw a tag.

 

[JohnMill]

Reference to 'putting it off" If you have clicks, catches, lockups, etc. All indicate tears in the miniscus. It will not heal itself. They can be scoped and they do grow back whole, although only to 7/8ths to 3/4s as thick. The rehab may take 6-7 months. Mine lasted 15 years
The Schwinn Air Dyne seems to be the best stationary bike.Hospital rehab uses them. Dr. Beth (PhD), my rehabber says treadmill elevation beyond 5% is better than increased speed for rehab of knees or cardio. It puts the stress onto the Quads and off the joints.
John

 

[ithinkimissed]

the more you move your knees through the range of motion they allow, the more your joint capsule will produce synovial fluid which lubricates the joint. this relieves pain and wear on the joint, however, once past a certain point of cartilage wear it is not much help. what kind of specific knee surgery did you have?

depending on what's going on with your knee (i don't know specifics) there could be something more to your mechanism of injury as far as mechanics in other parts of the body. i'd recommend a highly experienced PT who who specializes in orthopaedics/knees to cover all the rehabilitation and conservative/preventative measures.

if you're a candidate for TKR i'd recommend waiting to get one until it's really effecting function so it will last later into the years when you might not be a candidate anymore. if you ever do opt for a TKR i'd highly recommend outpatient physical therapy before the TKR as well as after.

 

[feelinducky]

I have seen some great result with Class IV K laser. It is a healing/therapeutic laser not a cutting laser.

 

[JohnMill]

Where can we find that?
I do feel that movement as long as pain free (relative) is essential.
Thanks
John

 

[feelinducky]

Here is a link to their website. Type in your zip code. There will be Veterinary and medical come up you can filter out Veterinary.

http://www.k-laserusa.com/your-k-laser/find-a-local-provider/

 

[Jaxdialation]

K Lasers are good for ligament injuries. Unfortunately arthritis is bone on bone contact. So K Lasers are mostly used by chiropractors in the human medical arena.

 

[jbs2014]

I had my right knee scoped 14 months ago, doing well. But last fall in Montana I couldn't walk as far or fast as I used to. Both 62 year old knees have significant arthritis.

What is an exercise that would reduce arthritic discomfort associated with extended hiking up and down.

Len an exercise that you could do that would not really hurt your knees would be resistance water running and swimming. Easy to do ensure that you wear something that creates a lot of drag into the pool, get into the water about upper chest deep and run circuits back and forth in the pool. It is really gentle on the knees but it will give you an intense cardio workout. I suffered a debilitating injury that had me sidelined for a year and that is what I had to do to keep in shape

For pain you may want to consult with your physical therapist about an EMPI 10s unit. Very good for dealing with pain and you only have to use it for about 5 minutes or so each day. You will need the physical therapist to program it for you. This helped with my injury.

Hope everything works out

 

[JohnMill]

I like the AirDyne bike for exercise using a Tabata program 20secondsfast 10seconds slow for 4 minutes 1minute rest. Do 5-8 cycles of that will slide your cardio efficiency right up the scale without hurting your knees overmuch. Maximum pain relief was achieved with a TENs unit. As my Dr said "Now here is what you don't want to hear" get rid of the weight, every bit that you can lose, do it. The older you get the harder it is to lose it but even harder to haul it around.

 

[Len Backus]

Thanks guys.

Since I started serious hill climb hiking in the off-season 2 years ago a MIRACLE has happened.

My knees are almost a total non-issue in my ability to hunt the mountains on foot or on horse.

 

[JohnMill]

RA magazine (rheumatoid arthritis,I think)says the more you use the joints (hips, knees, ankles) the better they function. I don't know if it is less pain or if we just get used to the pain but it does not bother us as much at any rate.
Len what is a typical mountain hiking work out ?

 

[JohnMill]

Sorry,I lost track of your post. Hill climbing hikes. I liked what Holland did with the climbing machine although it is a bit of the high priced spread to me

 

[just country]

morning, walking in a swimming pool is a very good conditioning for the whole

body. I had 3 knees surgeries two scopes and the stripes r in between the upper

and lower leg joints replaced. my surgeon said this will last 10 yrs. depending

on movement. my knees ache all the time. I am an aircraft inspector. I take aleve

for the discomfort. riding a cycle is one of the exercises that my surgeon said not to

do. the joints move everyday. the older we get depending on the nature of a persons

profession we torture our knees, hips and ankles. I guess common sense

will tell the normal on exercise. I love to hunt and fish. depending on the person

and pain level we will do what we love. another thing as we age

our sense of balance goes sometimes go south. just melightbulbgun)