The patello-femoral joint :

plica surgery recovery times, please help! - - Posted by caytebeard (caytebeard), 28 May 2003

Hello, I'm quite new to this forum but it seems really helpful, I was wondering if anybody out there might be able to advise me.

I am a professional dancer, who is awaiting surgery for inflamed plica removal. I haven't been able to attend more than two classes a week for about 8 months thanks to a dislocated kneecap, torn ligament and now this.

I do my strengthening exercises religiously but was wondering how long it takes to get over the surgery? I am anxious to get back to dancing as soon as I can. My physio says it will take 3 weeks until I can start to build up the muscle again. Does that mean 3 weeks until I can dance or walk? I am very worried as my boyfriend's brother (who has had the plica surgery) still feels pain now after 12 months!

Has anyone had this done who can tell me how quickly they got over it? Will it just be uncomfortable after 3 weeks or will I actually not be able to jump and turn at all? I've never had any surgery before so I really don't know!

I hope somebody can help me out by giving me the benefit of their experience, thanks for reading!

Posted by sheepful (sheepful), 30 May 2003

Hi caytebeard,

I can't tell you for sure because my plica surgery was 8 days ago.
I was able to fully weightbear after first day after the operation and can now walk without limping for about 20-30 minutes in a row.
According to what my OS told me, 3 weeks might be the time when you can start building up your muscle properly.
I am going to see my doctor to have my sutures out on monday and hopefully he will tell me more about what to do in the rehab process (so far he's only told me to take it  really easy for the first two weeks after surgery).

Good luck for your operation,

sheepful
Posted by caytebeard (caytebeard), 30 May 2003

Hello Sheepful,

Thank you so much, that sounds very reassuring. I thought that I might not be able to walk for ages afterwards.

If you don't mind me asking... how did they remove it? did they use a laser? I read somewhere that if they do it that way there is less chance of scarring?

Thankyou so much for writing back, it's really nice to speak to someone with a similar problem.

Good luck on Monday. Let me know how you get on post op. I'd love to hear how you are doing.

Thanks very much,

Cayte



Posted by windbarb (windbarb), 30 May 2003

Welcome, caytebeard!

I had plica as well as scar tissue removed in March.  I didn't go to formal PT and, to be perfectly honest, was probably not as religious in my at-home PT as a dancer or sports person may be, but I was in OK shape before the surgery.

I did partial weight-bearing with crutches two days after surgery and was walking without crutches the day after that.  Five days after surgery, I was walking longer distances/times (a couple of hours with a little rest here and there).  I am now about two months post-op, and while I am not at 100% yet, I have been back to normal activity for a few weeks now.  I even danced a little (NO jumping!  just moving around the floor) last weekend .  I still get occasional twinges of pain or funny feelings, but it's not a constant problem anymore.

Likely, your OS doesn't want you to try to dance for at least 3 weeks after surgery, including jumping and turning.  I can imagine how long that feels to a professional dancer, but at the same time... three weeks is a small price to pay to assure that you won't have complications down the road.  

In the meantime, you're doing the right thing to prepare by stretching and strengthening.  I started passive motion the day of my surgery and did basic PT exercises the next day; I'm sure you can ask your OS for some exercises to do immediately after surgery.

Incidentally, my plica was removed the good old-fashioned way... with metal in my knee .  No lasers.

I hope this helps!  Please ask if you have any other questions!

Cheers,
Barb
Posted by sheepful (sheepful), 31 May 2003

Hi Cayte,

I will tell you about furter recovery what my OS say on monday.

For me, as for barb, it was also the goold old knife used to remove the plica. I don't have much experiences with laser (but if your OS wants to use it - make sure HE has: Better to use a traditional method you're familiar with than a new one that you're still learning to handle...).

When are you scheduled for surgery, by the way?

All the best,

Sheepful

P.S. Hi Barb - Great that you joined the discussion!!!

Posted by KneePain326 (Emily), 1 June 2003

Hey Guys~

I have been having knee problems for a while, and on Wed was diagnosed with plica syndrome... on top of the others... and referred to a surgeon who I am going to see this comming Monday. I was just wondering if yall who had had plica removal think the surgery was successful... and worth it! Would you go through it again?

Caytebeard- When are you having your surgery?

Thanks!

Emily
Posted by sheepful (sheepful), 1 June 2003

Hi Emily,

as for me, I think having surgery was definetey the right decision.
It's now about 11 days ago and I feel prettty happy with the results. Yesterday I was able to walk for quite some time without getting pain - but the true results will show in a couple of weeks when I start doing sports again.

I have heard from a couple of people who have had unsuccessful plica surgery - but I am sure that, if a plica is your only problem, surgery is still a good option.

To be honest: If I had known that I had plica syndrom before surgery (pre op they thought I had had a meniscus tear - again, as there's already some of my meniscus missing from previous surgery) I would have waited longer and tried more conservative methods (I was only in severe pain for 3 months prior to surgery) - But now I am really happy that everything seems to turn out really good.

Let me know how you're getting on,

sheepful
Posted by KneePain326 (Emily), 1 June 2003

Hey Sheepful,

If you dont mind me asking, what treatments did you try before your surgery? I know you didint know it was plice before hand, but did you do PT and all that other stuff?

So far Ive been at this for about 9 months... Ive dont 10 weeks of PT, crutches on and off for the past 9 months, icing, braceing, tapeing, all that... and still havent gotten anywhere... So as a 15 year old that means no mall... and all that other stuff that my friends and I used to do.  

Wow didnt mean to go on like that, sorry!!

Emily
Posted by sheepful (sheepful), 1 June 2003

Hi Emily,

I saw a physio about twice beforehand but it made my pain so much worse, that she also advised me to opt for surgery.

I never used cruthces or anthing else. I tried 10 days taking voltarol (diclofenac) tablets. They helped but upset my stomac so much that I had to stop taking them.

How you describe your situation, it sounds like surgery might be a good option for you.
Let me know what the surgeon says on monday.

Keep my fingers xxxed for you,

sheepful
Posted by windbarb (windbarb), 2 June 2003

Hi, all!

From what I gather, if the plica hasn't healed itself in a few months, it's not going to without surgical intervention.  If you've been having trouble for more than a couple months (with RICE, PT, and other conservative treatment), then it's probably time to look into that option.

Was it worth it?  Well, the combination of plica excision and scar tissue removal (partial synovectomy) relieved my symptoms and I am recovering steadily.  I can now do normal activities.  For those reasons, the surgery that I had was absolutely worth it, and I never would have recovered without it.  But that's my own knee, with my own set of other symptoms and complications.  Everyone is different--you might not get total relief of your symptoms until the rest of your problems are treated.  For me, my quality of life increased from pain every day to not thinking about the knee for most of the time... and all of you know, that's a major improvement.

Before surgery, I had a cortisone injection, at-home PT exercises, RICE, and crutches.  I took Celebrex to take the edge off the pain  Nothing worked at all to make the physical symptoms get better.  Again, though, my pain and problems were more caused by scar tissue than plica.

I'm not sure if I've said much that will help you, but hopefully you can take something out of this!

Cheers,
Barb
Posted by caytebeard (caytebeard), 2 June 2003

Hello Sheepful, Barb and Emily,

My surgery won’t be for ages as I'm going through the good old NHS. I'm seeing an OS on August 12th, but my physio tells me that he will almost definitely operate. I am doing things that help but I do still get pain whilst sitting, and it occasionally gets caught.

I don't know if this is useful at all to Emily, I've had Diclofenac sodium tablets and Traxam foam spray, these were quite good for me. Have you tried any of these? They helped me but as Barb says every one is different.

My physio also told me to rub the area where the Plica is (I can feel mine, I guess you all could/can too?)  Apparently you can sometimes break them down that way, but only if they are not made of calcium.
Did anyone else do this?

DON'T do it without talking to your OS or physio first though. It does make it swell up and more prone to catching so you have to be very careful. If you have had yours for a long time it might not work anyway

I hope all of your trips to the OS's went well, It's so nice to hear that you are all recovering well,

Let me know how you are all getting on, I'd love to hear about it.

Thanks,

Cayte



Posted by sheepful (sheepful), 3 June 2003

Hi Cayte,

originally you asked for recovery time - well here we go:
My OS said to go easy on my knee for another 4 weeks.
I am allowed to cycle short distances and build up on my strength but I am supposed not to do any kind of sports that is hard on my knee.
I don't mind, because I was not able to do any proper sports prior to surgery so I am not missing anything but gaining strenght day by day.

I have started going back to work on a part time basis and am walking around without limping. Moving normally is increasing my pain slightly, but it is still bearable and as soon as I rest my leg for an hour or two and out ice on it, I don't feel any pain afterwards.

How everything works out, I can only tell within the next couple of weeks but I'll keep you updated.


Hi Barb,

Thankx so much for your posts. They made me feel a lot better.
I have heard really bad thing about plica and that removing them doesn't help. My plica had scar tissue around it as well. With what you write I feel more and more confident that the plica and sca tissue really WAS my problem (I was getting doubtful every now and then because so many people told me that after plica surgery their pain didn't improve at all and they don't believe in plica as a proper cause for knee pain ).
But my body is constanly telling me it was the right decision. The worst pain from before surgery is gone already and all I'm batteling with are the side effects from the arthroscopy (which are also getting better every day)   .
Hope you are doing alright, too.


Alle the best,

sheepful
Posted by windbarb (windbarb), 3 June 2003

Sheepful,

I'm glad to hear you're recovering well.  It is taking me some time to get back up to 100%, but I still see progress in the knee every week.  I hope it's the same for you!  And I actually had the same kind of progress toward walking normal instead of limping... even still, if I've been on the knee too long or get tired, you can see a bit of a limp.  But it gets better all the time.

Good luck, everyone!  Caytebeard, keep us posted!

Cheers,
Barb


Posted by gemini62 (gemini62), 4 June 2003

HI to all, I know my daugher should be writing but she has been so busy with the end of school and I have been lurking back here and felt the need to respond.  Jen just turned 14, had a traumatic plica injury about 1.5yrs ago took 4 months to somewhat heal, now 5 months ago went back into diving and horrible pain.  We have tried 4 months physio, no gym or any sport, 1 month antiinflammatories and straight ice 3 x's a day. The pain is worse, it is constant and now she has wooshing pain that shoots from the medial side to above her knee and at the same time on the other side the pain shoots from the outside up to the top but a little less.  She says it pulsates or wooshes and a little warm.  The plica gets caught almost every time she bends.  We are now scheduled for surgery on June 13, oh no it is friday the 13th., hope that is not a bad sign. Any way I wanted to let you know that I have appreciated reading the thread about the plica surgery.  She is trying to do her stretches and strengthening daily now so she is in top shape. I feel confident of our decision at this point and glad we tried everything conservative first.  Both OS's we saw were against the cortisone injection, felt her bands were to large to address with cortisone and didn't like cortison for her age.  Hope you all are feeling good today and forever, Amy, Jen's neurotic mother, finally ok with surgical decision. Jen has wanted it out since day one.
Posted by caytebeard (caytebeard), 8 June 2003

Hi Sheepful,

Thanks for writing back to me about the results of your trip to see the OS. I must say it sounds very promising.

Am I right in saying that you will be going back to sports six weeks post surgery?

I'm sure that it's still quite painfull for you at the moment. However, six weeks does'nt sound as bad as I expected.

I feel much more hopeful about it now. Especially since mine seem to be getting more and more painful.

Let me know how you are feeling, I'd love to know how you get on.

Thanks,

Hello gemini62,

I hope that your daughter’s knee is feeling a little better. It must be a lot for her to have to cope with, finishing school whilst being distracted with a sore knee.

If you don't mind me asking... why was the surgery traumatic? Were the knees particulaly bad before, or were there complications with the surgery? Why is the second lot of surgery needed?

Sorry, I don't mean to be nosey but I'd like to know all about it.
I would really appreciate it if you could tell me more.

I hope it all works out for her. It's so frustrating when you can't do things because you're too sore!

Thanks for writing, Good luck with the surgery. I'm sure that it will improve all of the problems.

Cayte.


Posted by sheepful (sheepful), 8 June 2003

Hi Cayte,

at the moment I think for me six weeks off sports ist pretty realistic.
If you say you're a professional dancer you might even be able to do better than that.
My OS said to take it really easy, also bearing in my mind that this has been my second surgery within a year (last one was at the end of last summer for a torn meniscus - with loads of trouble with my knee for more than a year prior to surgery and severe quad atrophy from not using my leg properly).
I guess after what I've been through during the last two years (my original trauma was in June 2001 - since then really painful periods and slow recovery with obstacles and surgery twice in the course) my knee might always stay a bit dodgy or at least be my weakest spot.  
But what I am experiencing now is making me hope soooo much!
I feel such a lot better than before surgery.
I haven't started doing sports yet although I am allowed to start cycling (If I am careful and if it's not for too long), bit I will give that a try in a couple of days.
I can now walk without limping for quite some time and I need to rest my knee elevated and put ice on it less frequently.
My normal every day activities are almost without exception possible (although sometimes still quite tyring) and I can really see a lot of light at the end of the tunnel.

I hope you get through the time till your surgery (I have waited and waited in "ye good olde NHS" as well and can so much understand what you're going through).
At least I can assure you that the care given in NHS treatment is usually good - once you get it.
My surgery was not done within the NHS ( I did not stay in England long enough), but sometimes I would have wished....

Please keep me updated of wht's going on with you. I will write again as soon as I can say more about the recovery process in my case.


Hi gemini,

I wish you and your daughter all the best for surgery on friday.
Maybe friday 13th could this time become your lucky day? I think it's a good omen.

Keep my fingers xxx ed for you all.

All the best,
sheepful

Posted by gemini62 (gemini62), 8 June 2003

Hi Cayte, We have not ever had surgery on the plica before, the first flare up became somewhat better after 4 months, it still bothered her, but not acutely painful.  This time its been 5 months and nothing is helping.  It has been a hard decision to make about surgery because the plica information is so controversial.  She has been out of all sports and gym class for 5 months and if she is on it a lot in one day she is in tears.  She is having surgery this Friday, so diving her love will be off for the summer, we just hope she can be somewhat dive come mid august that is when the high school team starts up.  Plica appears to be her only problem and she has good tracking.  She originally had a soccer ball hit the plica very hard and then was over using it with the diving when her leg was not as strong as it should have been.  We will keep you posted about her surgery, were hoping after 8 weeks we can start diving maybe 2x a week and build up to the 5 days a week, but this will be a new coach and we have never met him.  I have been neurotic about making this decision but feel we have no other options at this point.  Hope your Plica is feeling better too.   Take care, Amy
Posted by gemini62 (gemini62), 8 June 2003

Hi, Sheepful, just saw your response, thanks for the good luck and Im happy your feeling better.  You have been through a lot, keep up the good work.  Amy
Posted by sheepful (sheepful), 15 June 2003

First of all:
Hi Amy, hope your daughters surgery went well!

Hi everyone,

I promised to write how I am getting on - so here we go again:
Last week has been quite hard because I have now completely returned to my normal day activities which include leaving the house at 7 am and not returnung before 8 or 9 pm.
My knee did not like that too much so I had to make a couple of breaks in between and try to take it easy.
My quadriceps has suffered, even though I am doing all the exercises I am allowed. My physio is really really good. She has been supporting me in every way she could but she said not to worry too much, there is not much more I can do about it at the moment and we just have to build it up again, as soon as we can (but not to do too much too early...).
As the muscle is now not supporting my MCL this is playing up on me a bit and I had a couple of painful episodes included in the recovery process.
But everyone with plica out there: Don't be alarmed! Most of these problems are due to my knee history (wich is now adding up to more or less two years - my knee is just a bit annoying and mean to me sometimes). I have had the same MCL problems prior to surgery (in a cronic state) and also acutely, even though not as bad, after my first surgery (meniscus) a year ago.
On the whole I am still a lot better than I was before surgery (the nice thing is that the cathching has completely stopped and my knee is now moving smoothely withouth obstacles ).
Once I get my knee rehabliltated and stronger I am shure the MCL will stop complaining again as well.

Hope the rest of you is ok and doing well (would be nice to hear from you),

sheepful
Posted by gemini62 (gemini62), 15 June 2003

Hi everyone,  Sheepful I hope you get past this point soon.  Jen's surgery was on Friday, so far it appears to be a normal recovery.  She was quite out of it and totally funny coming out of anesthesia (her twin sister wants anesthesia now).  She used crutches with a little weight bearing friday but was mostly on the couch.  Saturday she was on it a little more with a hobble and we started the excercises, she was feeling preety good but by evening was hurting quite a bit, we have been icing a lot but I don't think it works very much with all the wrapping which can come off today. The Dr. only used 2 portals which I know the Knee Guru says is wrong, this worries me.  Dr. said her knee was completely normal besides the plica and recovery would be faster with the 2 ports.  Im also concerned because he said it was plica but not large, just normal plica, I hope this takes care of it, time will tell.  I will keep you updated, best to all.  Amy
Posted by Donna68 (Donna68), 15 June 2003

Hi Cayte and everyone
I had my plica removal in January and it took me quite a while before I started feeling any better, I received poor advice from my physio and this set me back quite a few weeks, I'd say it was about 3 months until I started seeing an improvement but I'm still strugging, can't believe it has gone on so long.  My main problem seems to be muscle strength, I can't stand for long without suffering with pain and aching later, also I can't squat, should I be able to by now?  I have done my exercises religiously every day for the past 6 months and I sometimes wonder if I will ever be back to normal.  I go to the gym twice a week plus use the static bike and exercise at home but progress just seems so slow.  


Posted by sheepful (sheepful), 15 June 2003

Hi Donna,

I know the problems with muscle athrophy from my previous surgery.
It's quite hard to get over it - but definetely possible! Dont despair.

When you said your physio gave you bad advice - what exactly did she tell you?

All the best,

sheepful
Posted by cat (cat), 15 June 2003

Donna,
I too am curious as to what the bad advice was that your PT gave you. I have just been diagnosed with plica syndrome and have lots of questions.
cat
Posted by Donna68 (Donna68), 16 June 2003

hi sheepful and cat - ok are you ready for this?

After surgery I was given the choice of seeing my own local physio or the hospital physio, I made the wrong choice and chose one more local to where I live to save me having to travel the long distance to the hospital.  After 8 weeks I felt that I was making very little progress and was still not able to walk very far and was still limping, I kept asking the physio if there was more I should be doing and she told me that it will take time and she more or less said it would just get better by itself - I rang the hospital physio nearly in tears from the despair and she saw me that day and gave me new exercises and told me not to go back to the old physio as she should have been progressing me over the weeks - I hadn't known what to expect from visits to a physio so the fact that she just massaged my knee each week seemed ok.
Some times I feel like I was in the dark about the whole thing and after surgery I didn't receive the support I would've liked, how on earth did we manage before we could look up information on the internet?
Donna

 
Posted by cat (cat), 16 June 2003

Donna,
my OS said if I were to have the plica surgery I should be recovered in 8 weeks. Can you tell me how your recovery has gone and maybe give some tips that may help with surgery and recovery as well as what I should be doing in PT afterwards?
Thanx,
cat
Posted by Donna68 (Donna68), 17 June 2003

Cat
My recovery as you know has been extremely slow,
I would definately recommend getting a good exercise bike, this really helped me, and I would make sure your physio is experienced with knees.  
My OS also told me that recovery would be quick, he said a few weeks I'm now 6 months down the line and have only just started walking downstairs without holding on both sides!  I think everyone is different I truly hope your recovery is much quicker than mine.
Donna


Posted by sheepful (sheepful), 21 June 2003

Hi everyone,
hope you are all doing ok!

I promised to update you on my recovry on a regular basis,
so here we go again:

I feel really well today (same as the last couple of days).
My knee does not hurt at all when I am sitting or walking. I can walk without a limp for normal distances and at a normal speed (Hurray - way better than before surgery where sometimes every step hurt!).
My MCL is giving me a break from pain also at the moment (so I have to be really careful not to start overdoing things again), but with that little stupid thing (and my loose ACL) I have to start living - I guess.
My quads is still quite weak making my knee a bit unstable still, but as long as I watch what I am doing, everything is fine.

Haven't started doing sports yet, but I don't think I should start to too early anyway. Anytime I make a sudden move my MCL starts complaining and this is why I have decided to take everything really really easy and go for constant excercises like my physio is showing me, rather than going back to the gym too soon and get tired out and make mistakes.

My physio is really great, by the way. She has got a lot of experience with knees and knows my dodgy knee for more than a year now (so she can taylor my rehab protocol individually for me, taking into account my past problems and recoveries).
I owe such a lot to hear (***thanx***).



After my surgery I was quite unsure at times if the plica really had been my problem. You hear such a lot of "oh if they don't find anything they just remove the plica to have done something...."
I don't know if that is really true, maybe some doctors do. And probably a lot of the guys who this has happened to start going on the internet and posting in forums because they are still in pain and are still looking for help- and you start wondering if it really helps having your plica removed (luckily this forum here is not as negative as some others are, cheers everyone   ).

    To everyone who reads this:      
Having had plica surgery has really made a lot of difference to my knee. After almost two years of pain my knee has now started feeling almost normal again (after my meniscectomy one year ago, I was a lot better than prior to the first surgery but never fully recovered - did not bother me too much at the time but now I gues the remaining pain must have been cause by the plica which should have been removed in the first operation .... ....). Plica surgery was definetely the best option for me!
I hope that I will now make a full recovery and that my ligament problems won't bee too much of a bother during this process.

Anyway, I will keep you updated,

all the best (and a painfree or minimum-pain weekend to you all),

sheepful
Posted by sheepful (sheepful), 2 July 2003

HI everyone,

just to make it easier for everyone trying to look something about plica up on this forum I thought I might as wel continue on this thread.

My knee has come to a bit of a standstill at the moment.
My MCL LCL and ACL are quite loose and playing up on me.
My physio told me to see a doctor again which I did.
I tries to get me into a proper rehab programme which should do the trick (will have to wait a couple of weeks though).

Other than that I am still quite satisfied with the surgery results.
My knee is not locking at all still which is making recovery a lot more easy than last time.

Unfortunately I have also developed a very sore wrist which is currently going to be splinted for a couple of days


I will also see a rheumatologist next week. Might be arthritis (wich of course then might also affect my knee - so don't worry, plica patients out there: Nothing to do with plica probs....)

See ya,

sheepful
Posted by cat (cat), 3 July 2003

Hi Sheepful,
 Sorry to hear about the halt in progress but you sound very upbeat. Where do you get your positive attitude?
 I'm curious, what are the symptoms of loose ACL,LCL, and MCL?
 Could you tell me about your post surgery rehab? How long after surgery before you started therapy? And what kinds of stuff did your PT have you do?  Did you do anything to prevent scar tissue formation? I am full of questions. Hope you dont mind.
 Good luck with your Rheumy visit,
cat
Posted by sheepful (sheepful), 3 July 2003

Hi Cat,

on 07/03/03 at 12:08:33, cat wrote:

actually I did not know I had a positive attitude....
To be honest I've had quite a rough time with my wrist getting sore and everything.
2 years of knee pain on the whole have not helped either.
But I am trying to struggle through. Live has to go on - and trying to take a look on the bright side is definetely making it easier

on 07/03/03 at 12:08:33, cat wrote:

I'm curious, what are the symptoms of loose ACL,LCL, and MCL?

MCL and LCL are really tender to touch and when you feel along them they are quite hardened and clearly palpable (contrary to my right knee). Also when my OS tests how far he can stretch and bend the by pushing my knee into certain directions (*ouch*) the knee he sees that it gives way fr more than a knee usually should.
The ACL is tested like you would for and ACL tear. It is actually that loose that it is almost comparable to someone who's torn his ACL, but there is no tear (the operating surgeon thought there was one before the arthroscopy and was a bit surprised that he did not find one during the operation - I was quite glad, to be honest; couldn't have faced the surgery).
This results in my knee giving way frequently. I have to strenghten the muscles in my knee to compensate for my ligaments but I am quite confident that I will have good success during the rehab.

on 07/03/03 at 12:08:33, cat wrote:

Could you tell me about your post surgery rehab? How long after surgery before you started therapy? And what kinds of stuff did your PT have you do?  Did you do anything to prevent scar tissue formation? I am full of

I am afraid cannot help you much wih that either.
Didn't have much rehab first.
Nothing during the first 10 days, but just isometric quads exercises (wich I remembered from my prior surgery and did independently) and every 2-3 10 minutes of bending and straightening my knee (this is very important and helped me gain a good range of movement within the first 2 days post op!!).
Unfortunately my R.O.M. was so good that my OS did not think physio was necessary
Went to see her anyway (she's very good - knew her from before) but as I had to pay for it privately Only saw her once a week.
Exercises were individually tailored for my needs.
First we started strenghtening but at the moment we're mainly trying to cope with my MCL and she massages it a lot to prevent it from getting more hardened and worsening.
she gives me advice on which exercises I can do in the gym (go there twice a week), but it's really a bit of trying out what I can do, what helps and what makes it worse. Every week I have to change and adapt my regime.

But as I now got a prescription for physio twice a week it's definetely going to get a bit eassier.


Hope this helped you a bit,
but always remember that my main probs in the recovery process are really not plica related but more due to my dodgy knee that will alway be something very "special" to me ****rrrrrrrrrr*******


See ya,

sheepful

Oops,

seem to have severs typing problems - but cannot be bothered to go into my last post again and change them right now.

Sorry guys!

Hi Amy,

thanx!
Am seeing my physio today and will  try to ask her about it to (but got so much else I urgently need to ask her - hope won't forget anything.... ).

Keep us updated,

sheepful

Interesting... my knee has cracked extra since my op in March, too.  Thanks for sharing that bit of information--now I know why, and I know what exercise can help .

Cheers,
Barb

Hey Sheepful!
Havent' heard from you in a while. Sorry to hear about your diagnosis.     Hopefully, knowing what the problem is will give you better treatment options.  Take care and keep in touch,
cat

Hi Cat,

have started medication (sulfasalazine) about 7 weeks ago.
Knee is a lot better and other joints are improving as well
Am very satisfied with progress. Hope to be able to do normal sports soon

How are you doing?

sheepful

Hey there Sheepful!
Hadn't heard from you in a while. I'm glad you have good news to report. I envy you being able to participate in sports. That's great!
I am now seeing an OS I feel I can trust. He advised me to not have the surgery (lateral release) 2 other docs wanted me to have and his reasons made sense to me. I am still doing therapy but a more appropriate program and will continue to do so til at least Feb. Then if I still don't see improvement we will talk about other options. So far I have been able to get rid of the IT band problems. I am stronger but still have all the patella femoral pain I started with. I wear a Breg PTO brace and it helps alot. I can shop now!
Keep us updated on how you're doin. Pretty soon you will have to post in the "success" section.  
cat

This old Forum was so valuable that we have kept it as an archive. It is just for reference. If you want to ask questions or offer advice, there is also a current Bulletin Board which you can access from our home page.

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