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QUESTION:
I am a 35 male, that has had knee surgery, acl replacement. Over the last 7
years, I have got to the point where the cushion (i think minicus) between
the joint has torn enough that i have bone on bone in the knee joint. Since
I am 35, I was wondering if anyone has had similar problems and what their
options were? To date, I only know of partial knee replacement, which seems
like an option since my quality of life is not what i want it to be. Can't
even walk a mile without the pain draining me.
ANSWER:
Just the fact that you try to walk that mile my hat is off to you.. Have
acouple of
friends with knee replacements and altho they are slow they keep trying
also..
My great uncle just had a knee replaced (and he's 80) and it was the
best thing he ever did. It only took a few weeks to recover from the
surgery and he is now back to walking up and down the hill on his farm
three times a day to check on the cows. And that is SOME hill, let me
tell you! The only thing he can't do anymore is play basketball, but
only because the jumping is hard on the machinery -- not because of
pain.
That's all I know about knee stuff and I'm sure there are other
options out there. But just wanted to let you know knee surgery
worked really well for my uncle, who is over twice your age.
I first looked into knee replacement surgery when I was
44 . There was a problem . The average life span of
the replaced hardware is only 15 years and Drs . are
very reluctant to place artificial knee joints in young
people . First replacements have a great success rate ,
while any subsequent replacement has a much higher
failure rate . Unless there is a tech breakthrough ,
you might be looking at 3 replacements in your lifetime .
However , there has been advancement into replacing
torn cartilage with healthy cartilage cultured from your
own knees . Check with your Ortho . The original work
was done by a Boston based lab .
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