OA and a Menisculun (sp?) Tear
Citigal:
There certainly are alternatives. It is usually recommended that all nonsurgical alternatives be considered first. Now, it is possible that she has an excellent surgeon and he may have already tried all of those. On the flip side, there are too many orthos who jump too quickly to surgery (making money can be too enticing to some unfortunately).
Standard nonsurgical therapies include the following:
- systemic analgesics such as tramadol
- systemic NSAIDs (if your mom doesn't have contraindications such as kidney problems, uncontrolled blood pressure, ulcers, etc.)
- topical therapies such as Voltaren gel
- corticosteroid injections
- hyaluronic acid injections (check out www.SynviscOne.com)
- unloader brace with Bionicare (check out www.bionicare.com/storage/VQO511536REVE_BioniCareMDBrochure_ 8.5x11_web.pdf )
- she should be doing exercises such as quadriceps strengthening exercises 4-5 days a week)
If these have not been tried, then she should consider seeing a rheumatologist to try them (they are the arthritis experts specializing in nonsurgical therapies). By the way, the meniscus tear is actually part of the OA. It would be very surprising for a patient with bad OA not to have a torn meniscus as it is just part of the disease process. (this is very different than the healthy football player without arthritis who injures their knee and tears the meniscus... in them, surgery often is the best place to start).
Good luck, I hope she does well.
There certainly are alternatives. It is usually recommended that all nonsurgical alternatives be considered first. Now, it is possible that she has an excellent surgeon and he may have already tried all of those. On the flip side, there are too many orthos who jump too quickly to surgery (making money can be too enticing to some unfortunately).
Standard nonsurgical therapies include the following:
- systemic analgesics such as tramadol
- systemic NSAIDs (if your mom doesn't have contraindications such as kidney problems, uncontrolled blood pressure, ulcers, etc.)
- topical therapies such as Voltaren gel
- corticosteroid injections
- hyaluronic acid injections (check out www.SynviscOne.com)
- unloader brace with Bionicare (check out www.bionicare.com/storage/VQO511536REVE_BioniCareMDBrochure_ 8.5x11_web.pdf )
- she should be doing exercises such as quadriceps strengthening exercises 4-5 days a week)
If these have not been tried, then she should consider seeing a rheumatologist to try them (they are the arthritis experts specializing in nonsurgical therapies). By the way, the meniscus tear is actually part of the OA. It would be very surprising for a patient with bad OA not to have a torn meniscus as it is just part of the disease process. (this is very different than the healthy football player without arthritis who injures their knee and tears the meniscus... in them, surgery often is the best place to start).
Good luck, I hope she does well.
Don
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