Physio?

[Scarlett]

I have a rubblish knee- too little cartlilege left and an off-centre knee cap which is grinding away at the wrong bit of bone- ie- not sitting it it's proper groove. The physio gave me some exercises- putting a football between my ankles and raising my feet up 90% and back, whilst sitting. I did some but it really hurt and I couldn't walk the next day. It still hurts more than it did. I'm not seeing him for 2 weeks. Should I persevere or stop? Ultimately I need a knee operation but he is trying to strengthen the muscles around the knee. Any thoughts?

[Sqad]

The sooner you get the knee replacement the better.

Physio?..........why not continue, unless the pain becomes intolerable.

If it was my knee, I would take Ibuprofen until the day of operation and replace the physio with walking and/or swimming.

[Scarlett]

Hi Sqad! They haven't mentioned replacement- just an operation to release the kneecap a bit so it falls back into the right place. However they do say it can sometimes go too far the other way and cause more problems :\ I can't take ibuprofen cos of UColitis. Walking too is very hard cos of slipped discs and ankle probs (had ankle operation last year to remove ripped cartilege). Am fairly sure it's colitis destroying my joints but I don't have the inflammatory marker thing except for a raised ESR.

[Sqad]

Scarlett.....ah! yes I remember now.

I presume that with the cartilages "knackerd" there is also degeneration of the joint itself and this can only be gauged on X-Rays.

You seem to be between a "rock and a hard place".

In your situation, I would stop the physio and push for your operation to be expedited.

[Scarlett]

By the way, what do you think. When I was 13 I had an operation on the other knee- a really quite bararic one (18 stitches) to tighten up the knee cap which was loose. I had physio and it was okay, lying on the floor attached to pulleys to increase the degree of bend in my knee. Then the physio lady one day REALLY pushed my knee back- I heard a bang and I screamed with pain, and then cried- which is SO not like me!! She had bent my knee good and proper, I guess, so I can get full movement of it, and the pain was her pushing the seized up muscle. I just can't can't believe, looking back, that that was good practice! It may have helped me in the long term but how brutal?! Do you think that was a good thing she did?!

[Scarlett]

Yes, the specialist man seemed to think that physio wouldn't solve the problem, but would just build up the weak muscles. But if it hurts to use/bend my knee, why is he giving me exercises which involve bending my knee?!

[Sqad]

Scarlett........I would prefer not to comment ;-)

Manipulation similar to what you had, were at one time common to breakdown adhesions, but they were almost always done under general anaesthetic.

[islasmum]

Could you not phone the physio and ask what is the best thing to do?