Osteoarthritis- Advice and help

[kmwoods442]

Advice on treatments and help with osteoarthritis in knee and being able to ski? 41 years old and had ski accident last year that tore ACL. Had surgery Jan 2018 and this weekend had first weekend out skiing and could only ski 1 day with severe pain. Mentally devastated as skiing has always been my recreational passion.

 

[mustski]

Are you wearing a brace? My DH has reactive arthritis and has a repetitive knee injury and pain while skiing without one. He uses as Donjoy brace that supports the knee and protects it from 5 common movement injuries.

We have a ski friend who is a doctor (specializing in pain management) and I asked him if he thought stem cell injections would work with DH's type of arthritis. He and DH ski together quite often. There is quite a bit of success with regrowing cartilage with osteoarthritis using stem cell injections. He also recommended hyaluronic acid injections. Below was his answer to my do you think stem cell injections would work?

"I think it could. Cartilage loss is cartilage loss even with an autoimmune attack but the question would be if he does achieve new cartilage growth with stem cell treatment would it be attacked again? So my thought would be it could work but for how long? I'm not sure the answer to that. Has he tried Hyaluronic acid injections yet? Much less expensive and can be done repeatedly without consequence."

 

[contesstant]

Are you 100% sure it's the arthritis causing your pain? 1 year post-injury really isn't that long. Maybe a Dr. visit is in order particularly because you are in that much pain?
And I'm sorry. Having recovered from my own serious injury almost 4 years ago, I can relate. I also know that I had pain while skiing in that area for a good two years. A good balance of strength has been the best thing for it.

 

[Jilly]

I have OA in both knees and I'm a couple of decades older. I don't have pain while skiing but after. I have a DonJoy brace too for the right knee. The right is worst than the left. I had cortisone and Euflexxa injections in that knee. Those "replace" the hyaluronic acid that is missing. Like mustski states.

I'm at the point where I think the left knee may need the injections. In 2015 I had a meniscus tear repaired and the doc said he "cleaned up" the joint too. But I get a little pain in that knee if I don't walk, stand, move properly.

PT helps me manage everything. If it gets too bad, I'm going to explore the ST as you can only do the injections a few times.

 

[kmwoods442]

Thank you everyone for taking the time to respond and share your advice. I appreciate it so much as trying to find support and figure this out and a way to continue skiing.

I do have the DonJoy Brace as well. I don’t have any feelings of instability in my knee-which is what my Ortho said the brace helps a lot. I’m an avid yogi and stability and balance on that knee feel really good. I can do basically all balance movies on that leg with little problem. The severe pain comes when I put my weight on knee in a forward/bending motion. Sharp pains over my kneecap. Like lunges, going down stairs knee bends. I’ve been in PT 90 visits and can’t seem to get past the sharp pains when bending with my weight. Feels very stable and ortho said ACL graft was strong. My kneecap was tracking slightly to right and ortho said hip to knee alignment can effect it. I went to fascial PT to work on that tissue and have been doing that for few months but not much improvement.

Ortho said that I do have arthritis and we tried Monvist injection but have had no improvement. I did one cortisone shot and that helped for 3 wks but back to same spot and I know that isn’t long term solution.

I was thinking of ordering the SkiMojo exoskeleton to try and take some pressure off my knee. Has anyone tried this?

I am going to research more about stem cell injections. Does anyone know anyone that have tried that? I read the Owner of K2 Skiis did it with some success.

There isn’t anything I love more than skiing and right now I feel a little crushed to think I may not be able to enjoy it. I don’t have anyone that can relate to being so bummed. So thank you for offering your support. I’m kinda on my own on this.

 

[Jilly]

By the DonJoy brace, I'm talking about a $2000 custom. My is called the off loader.

Do you wear the brace while skiing? It is positioned right and fit tight. The idea is that the brace "off loads" the pain to the out side of the brace. I can feel it right away when I put it on.

 

[VickiK]

@kmwoods442 , best wishes as you make your way through this issue.

 

[contesstant]

It sounds like you have been doing so many good things to work through it. It might just need more time, it's hard to say. Are there particular types of snow or movements that exacerbate it while skiing? Does it bother you on smooth, easy runs? If not, it could be that you just need miles on easy terrain to build those ski-specific muscles again.

Injuries suck!

 

[mustski]

I was thinking of ordering the SkiMojo exoskeleton to try and take some pressure off my knee. Has anyone tried this?

I am going to research more about stem cell injections. Does anyone know anyone that have tried that? I read the Owner of K2 Skiis did it with some success.

I ski with a guy who uses an exoskeleton- I’m not sure of the brand. Like many of us, he’s of a *mature* age and he says it lets him ski longer and stronger. I asked him if he can wear a brace with it and he says he wears a neoprene knee brace but didn’t think it would work with the custom brace DH needs. As for stem cell injections, we had a lengthy discussion over here (I hope it’s ok to link to this). https://www.pugski.com/threads/stem-cell-injections-for-the-knees.5708/

By the DonJoy brace, I'm talking about a $2000 custom. My is called the off loader.

Do you wear the brace while skiing? It is positioned right and fit tight. The idea is that the brace "off loads" the pain to the out side of the brace. I can feel it right away when I put it on.

Yes to the need for the custom brace. Our insurance balked but we just went ahead and bought one. We love skiing and life us too short not to enjoy the things you love.

 

[kmwoods442]

Thank you everyone for your thoughts, advice and experiences. When I had to cut my day short skiing yesterday after too much knee pain I came back to hotel and just cried...thinking skiing may be over. And anyone I would have told that too would have thought I was nuts for being so sad over a sport. Thanks for giving me some hope that I will find a way to ski for more than 1 day on a trip.

 

[mustski]

Another thought is finding a PT provider who aims for “return to sport” as opposed to ”return to daily life.” Sometimes PT needs to aim for more than would satisfy most. Make sure they understand your desire to ski pain free. Also try taking ibuprofen before you go out; it may extend your day a bit. In the meantime

 

[newboots]

Don’t lose heart! It may be ready in a couple months or sadly, next year, if not this year. Good luck!

And welcome to the forums, if we haven’t met before!

 

[TahoeCruzer]

I really empathize with you. I have had arthritis in both knees for 20 years . It is bone on bone in my left knee. I had a miniscus tear in my 40's after running and the doctor suggested specific exercises rather than surgery and that helped for years. Then three years ago I had the surgery and it helped for a year. Then I started getting the lubricant shots--those helped as well for a time. My pain now comes and goes. It is worse hiking than skiing so far. Yesterday it was there again. My knee felt unstable. I totally sympathize with tears over possibly not skiing. I count each ski day pain free as a blessing. I did research on stem cell and met with people who do it. I'm considering going to Thailand to have it done as they have been doing it there for 20 years so they are more experienced and it is much less expensive even with trip expenses. It is worth a shot--there are no guarantees. You do have to have some cartilage left to work with to do the stem cell so we can't wait too long.

 

[SnowAngels]

If you don't have an unstable knee, the pain may actually be patella tendinitis? ( Runners knee) I have mild arthritis which I thought was the issue - but really it's the PT. So I've been using a stretch band ( wrap under the foot, hold it tight and push out to stretch the band - I use the Red band) while I watch TV to build up my knee support muscles ( and quads if you engage them ) Plus I wear a knee brace that is designed with straps that cross under the patella to support it. These two things have helped a lot. I am not completely pain free by the end of a ski day but I can ski a full day quite hard