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Walt, I am a 40 year old highly competitive (not professional though) male who had a serious knee injury in high school. I was told I had cartiledge and ligament damage at the time but had no treatment. This year however my knee had been bothering me whenever I trained (especially with turning to my left while running and when I went to slow down my pace). I saw an orthopedic surgeon who after evaluating me ordered therapy, medication and an MRI of my knee. The MRI showed I had a torn lateral meniscus, cartiledge thinning in the lateral compartment, a torn ACL and a 5cm Baker's cyst. I then had arthroscopy of my knee which showed a "displaced buckethandle tear of the lateral meniscus, arthritis of the lateral compartment and a chronic ACL tear". The orthopedic surgeon did a "subtotal lateral meniscectomy, partial chondroplasty of the lateral tibial plateau and debridement of the chronic ACL tear". After surgery my surgeon told me my knee, because of the arthritis would likely never be the same and I might have to find other ways to fulfill my competitive drive. I however am frusrtated because after all this my knee does not feel any better now than before surgery and I have some swelling (it has been about five months since surgery) that I believe is due to that Baker's cyst. I simply haven't been able to compete at the high level I desire like I used to do.
Please give me your thoughts on the following questions:
#1 What are your thoughts about the Baker's cyst and swelling? Should I have it removed? Was it caused from my surgery? Is it the main problem with my knee? #2 With my knee being like it is ie. a torn lateral meniscus, torn ACL and arthritis in my lateral compartment what are you thoughts about me being 40 years old and desiring to compete in competitive iron man triathalons? Should I blame my docotr for my knee problems now?
Thanks! Jon
In Reply to: knee concerns posted by Jon on September 15, 2001 at 17:37:33:
I solved minor knee problems with cod liver oil and MSM
mainly Natrol brand. My problems have been minor but
limiting and to not have them is a joy.
VF
In Reply to: knee concerns posted by Jon on September 15, 2001 at 17:37:33:
With all due respect to what Vince said, I would take heed to Dr. Stoll's mantra: that chronic conditions will NEVER be solved by something you TAKE but rather by something you DO!
It sounds like you have a myriad of knee problems. Probably the most beneficial thing you could do would be to find an efficacious Skilled Relaxation technique. Chronic bracing is most certainly the cause of your Baker's Cyst. Now that you have it, surgery is the only way to remove it. But you must keep in mind the underlying causes, viz. chronic bracing. If you do nothing after the surgery what do you think will keep it from coming back again.
It sounds like your problem also as an acute etiology as well which may complicate things. If you go to the archives about knee problems and/or chondromalacia, you will find the same advice given many, many times; however, I can parrot it here for you:
Effective skilled relaxation (as mentioned above) twice a day for twenty minutes to remove chronic muscular bracing.
Chiropractic, Rolfing, Hellerwork, or a combination of those to realign your weight-bearing structures may also do you well. If you are experiencing "cartiledge thinning in the lateral compartment" then surely your patella is pulling laterally.
Either Alexander Technique or Feldenkrais would be good to teach you how to "use" the knee correctly in a sense.
750 mg of Glucosamine twice a day as well as the essential oils mentioned on the homepage would possibly accelerate the healing of the joint surface.
Exploring Immunological connections to LGS may be helpful as well. (This is something I am looking into as well.)
Competeing in an Iron Marathon Triathalon in the near future is probably the last thing you need to do for your knee. You may need to lay off weight-bearing excercise for a year or so while you are healing. Six months of rest with diligent SR would be the minimum! However, non weight-bearing excerise in a community pool would be beneficial to keep your leg muscles strong.
I hope this helps for now.
In Reply to: Re: knee concerns posted by Jeff C. on September 15, 2001 at 23:01:11:
Jeff,
So I'm not healed...Funny it Feels like it. 10 yrs without
a problem or many months or years with others Seems like
they are or Might be. I guess it all depends on the cause
and I guess mine was a lack or deficency caused by an
injury but then even my hounds respond to things I give
and the problems are gone in one day and don't return many
times. I and they must be different...
VF
In Reply to: Re: knee concerns posted by Vince F on September 16, 2001 at 05:47:55:
I suppose your dietary solution would only have really "cured" you if you were horribly lacking in EFA's; maybe you were. There is no such thing as an MSN deficiency.
I am not trying to undermine your advice; rather, am only trying to advise only what I know what Dr. Stoll would. I have never seen him advise supplementation as the ONLY answer to a chronic problem.
Peace.
In Reply to: Re: knee concerns posted by Jeff C. on September 16, 2001 at 14:45:57:
Jeff,
when I was told by a 70 yr old guy to try cod for arthritis
I thought he was kidding. I told a weightlifting girlfriend
who said she had it in her wrists. She tried it and said it
helped. I took just One of her caps and it helped my knee
so i went out and bought some. I Only had to take one cap
to get rid of the pain and the relief could last weeks till
I stressed the joint and taking it as a maintance dose
didn't seem to help since if I stoped it could hurt a
short time later if I stressed it again. Had to take it
for a few yrs but didn't finish a bottle of 100 caps and
haven't needed to take it for over 10 yrs. Took a Long time
before I found out what it Might have done when i learned
about the syovial fluid sac in joints and that I remember
they say that Vit A and maybe D is in the fluid and Cod
has A & D so as a physical therapist friend scarcastically
asked early on when i asked it it Might lubricate the
joints.
About the MSM I don't know it's need or how it works But
I have 3 that helped 3 problems and aren't needed after just taking
taking them for a short time and only rarely when the
things they help may be really stressed. The fact that one
helped a different knee problem and wasn't needed after a
week and though it did come back 3 mo later it was cured
again and I don't take the items for very long after the
problem disapears. Like the cod I guess I'll learn somewhere
along the way why it worked and why 3 different brands
helped different things. With the cod and synovial fluid it
took a story about a woman who was shot in the knee and died
weeks later because they Didn't remove the bullet and they
said the fluid disolved the lead and poisoned her.
VF
In Reply to: knee concerns posted by Jon on September 15, 2001 at 17:37:33:
Hi, Jon.
Most of your current problems are because of the fact that you did not have this taken care of when it happened.
It sounds like you have a good surgeon now. I certainly agree with his statement that your triathalon days are over if you do not want your future to be a surgical replacement of the entire knee. You need to take up swimming for your competitive drive.
Your arthritis is mostly due to the wear & tear from your ligamentous and cartilaginous damage all those years ago.
However, that does not mean that getting rid of your residual bracing (which everyone has) would not help this too.
Since you apparently have a competent surgeon, if it were me I would chance the Baker's removal AFTER you share with him what you know about the absolutely necessary repair of the tear in the capsule that allowed it to happen (during that removal). There cannot be to much redundancy in communication. It IS your knee, after all.
Hope I have answered your questions.
Walt
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