Back then, Jane was 63 years old. Her pain was achy in nature, she felt it on the inside of her right knee. And it was getting in the way of everyday life..
Jane had previously been very active, enjoying gardening and coast path walking..
BUT, she had been less active since the pain came on 2 years before we met.
Jane had also put on a bit of weight, perhaps a little under 2 stone.
A few years ago she could ‘easily’ walk 4-5 miles without thinking about it.
To walk 1/2 mile when I saw her, Jane would have to 'push through the pain'.
Not a good place to be..
Jane answered my questions
I examined her knee, and..
The rest of her leg.
We talked through her x-ray films
We came up with a plan together.
John next
The second story belongs to John, who I saw a few weeks ago.
John had the same pattern of osteoarthritis as Jane.
He felt his pain on the inside of his right knee.
The difference..?
"I feel like a fraud"
John felt like a fraud coming to see me.
Now that’s never the case.
BUT it is music to my ears..
I'll explain why.
What John meant by that was that his pain had got better.
He’d had pain a couple of months back, for 2 days, and it was bad..
BUT it had got better.
And got better quite quickly..
So what was the difference between Jane then, and John now..?
Was John much younger?
Nope..
Older in fact 75 years old
The same age as Jane is now.
Was John’s osteoarthritis not as bad as Jane’s?
No again..
John had bone on bone osteoarthritis on the inside of his knee.
If anything worse than Jane’s osteoarthritis of 12 years ago.
I'll show these detail next week.
So WHAT was John doing differently?
Indeed what are many of my friends, family members and patients doing differently..
Different meaning they can do more of the things they love, with less pain.
In short, how are they all putting off joint replacement?
Well, hoping to at least!
And how are they all making sure we get the very best outcome if we end up needing joint replacement?
