KNEE ARTHRITIS - General principles of managing Osteoarthritis of the knee :
Knee OA or retear of meniscus - - Posted by rickslick (rickslick), 16 August 2004
I have had a partial medial menisectomy 2 years ago. It is now known that on the medial side of my knee I have narrowed medial joint space. (MRI taken 3 months ago shows some unkown signal which could be a retear of meniscus and splaying of ACL fibers).......Now, for the past 3 months I have had posterior and some minor medial knee pain 90% of the time and with movement restriction to flexing of about 45 degrees before the joint movement is restricted and pain sets in. I have pain mostly posterior and as the day goes on after walking or standing. Many times standing helps the pain while sitting with leg slightly bent causes the most pain. It is very painfull to desend stairs.............Here is the question I would appreciate comments to. I am a 50 yr old male with history of partial medial menisectomy 2 years ago. Is this osteoarthritis setting in or is this a meniscus retear or ACL injury (since pain is posterior mostly). I do not remember an injury occurance although I was doing some weight training in the gym using light weights just a bit before this new pain.
Also, I have had the cortisone injection with no help in pain or function. I am at the stage now where an unloader brace is being ordered and am about to start the Hyaluronic injections (3 in all). What are your diagnosis and guestimates as to what I can expect and what are your experiences with what is going on here with me?
Thanks much.........Rick in South Florida
P.S. The reason I post here using medical terminology is that I am a licensed Xray/ MRI Tech.
Posted by Chester (Chester), 16 August 2004
Now obviously I'm just guessing based on my experiences, but what you are having now sounds like wear on the back of your kneecap or possibly some loose bodies floating around. The part about the bent knee hurting more then the straight leg sounds like "movie-theater knee" which I understand is from patello-femoral joint issues. That's why it hurts to set in one place for a long time. Also the part about going down stairs.
I have had this same problems for years, even before OS started to set in due to my lateral menisectomy. That's just my thoughts and I'm sure other will sound off on your question. Also - I am now using an unloader and it really did the trick for me. It doesn't get rid of all of the pain, but it isn't getting worse and I can live with that until the inevitable TKR.
Updated Thu Apr 29 2010
