Nick’s Medial Plica Excision & Fat Pad 21 Months Post Op

I was finally discharged from the BirminghamRoyalOrthopaedicHospital on Wednesday 6^th July 2011 after just having 4 IMS sessions under Dr Brown. I can now squat fully without any knee pain and can sprint again. I would say that my right knee is 85% ok and more and less back to how it was before my fall in October 2007. I did not have any dry needling when I saw Dr Brown as he was happy with my progress and said he can now sign the discharge sheet. I thanked him for getting me back to jogging again as I never thought it would happen so quickly.

I 1^st started going to the Birmingham Royal Orthopaedic in January 2008 and attended appointments on a regular basis for 3 and a half years. The Staff I saw over the 3 and a half years where fantastic and can only praise them all under the NHS. The waiting time for my scope was 18 weeks this is the only downside I can see as the rest of the services they provided was excellent.

I now go for a jog 3 times a week and do around 3 miles around the area of Birmingham I live in and so far my knee not flared up again. I will slowly increase the miles as I think my knee will be ok now. I do get the odd twinge and knee pain and can live with it as it does not happen too often. My physio and Dr Brown said I would be ready to do a half marathon next year and should jog shorter distances for the rest of 2011 to get my knee use to jogging once again.

My goal is to do a half marathon sometime in spring 2012 and think I can do it as I can jog at a steady pace and do not get out of breath. What I really want to do is a full marathon and could compete in the Great North Run or London Marathon one year.

I was a bit sceptical about IMS as I did not think it would be helpful and was proved wrong and did help sort of my right knee. I am glad that I did not need a 2^nd scope on my knee that might have been the next step if IMS did not work out for me. I would suggest to anyone reading my blog to try out IMS if your MRI scan has come up normal and your OS cannot spot a problem during a physical examination. This is better then an exploratory scope that takes a long time to recover from or more of a risk. It took me 18 months post op before I could say that my scope was a success so pays to be patient with your knee problems.