Knee problems.

[ventoux50]

Saw the surgeon today. Said I need arthroscopic surgery for a tear. I can live with that. What I can't live with is after he said "the sort of mileages you've been doing on your bike are not sustainable I'm afraid. With the wear and tear and the arthritis you have, you are on track to have knee replacement surgery if you continue. Recreational cycling, a mile here or there will be okay but the commuting and weekend trips are history".

I'm absolutely gutted.

Mate, don't accept this, seek another opinion, this advice goes against everything I've ever heard as a sports physio.......... cycling is accepted as being an excellent form of exercise for maintaining joints - arthritic or otherwise !

The old saying 'if you don't use it you lose it' applies here....... if you don't actively mobilise your knee joint, it wil become MORE problematic and the arthritis will eventually progress to the stage where you may need a replacement op anyway. Keeping mobile lubricates the joint cartilage and helps to prolong it's useful lifespan.
An arthroscopy to repair/remove damaged tissue is no big deal, in fact most rehab protocols involve static cycling to regain flexibility and muscle strength.

Without knowing your full predicament, it seems on the face of it that the advice to stop cycling is not in keeping with generally accepted methods of rehab/management of arthritic knees....if you were a riunner that would be a different proposition.

Please seek a second opinion before you abandon all hope of continuing with your cycling !

 

[ChrisKH]

Thanks ventoux I will look into this. I must admit I couldn't understand that he would rather I walk a mile to the station than take a bike, albeit at a modest pace.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Saw the surgeon today. Said I need arthroscopic surgery for a tear. I can live with that. What I can't live with is after he said "the sort of mileages you've been doing on your bike are not sustainable I'm afraid. With the wear and tear and the arthritis you have, you are on track to have knee replacement surgery if you continue. Recreational cycling, a mile here or there will be okay but the commuting and weekend trips are history".

I'm absolutely gutted.

That sounds like a real bummer Chris - is it worth a second opinion from a cycling friendly doc?

Some of these quacks are very quick to write-off an activity if it's one they're not keen on themselves.

 

[Dave Davenport]

Saw the surgeon today. Said I need arthroscopic surgery for a tear. I can live with that. What I can't live with is after he said "the sort of mileages you've been doing on your bike are not sustainable I'm afraid. With the wear and tear and the arthritis you have, you are on track to have knee replacement surgery if you continue. Recreational cycling, a mile here or there will be okay but the commuting and weekend trips are history".

I'm absolutely gutted.

That sounds like a real bummer Chris - is it worth a second opinion from a cycling friendly doc?

Some of these quacks are very quick to write-off an activity if it's one they're not keen on themselves.

A mate of mine was told to give up cycling by a surgeon at the locol hospital due to a knee problem a couple of years ago, he ended up going private and having some minor keyhole surgery. He was back to doing 12 hour tt's and running marathons within a few months.

 

[willhub]

I don't mean to trash your thread (to the op), but I want to know, what exactly done tendonitis feel like? When I get pains round my legs, I become very paranoid and start thinking it could be something bad, I worry cause I don't want to have something that puts me off the bike for a long while. Today I got some stiffness and pain coming on in my foot, the top of my foot, near the ankle, when my leg is layed out, and when I pull my foot back, towards me, it aches abit, especially when I release it, but it came on pretty quick and really eases down now and again.


Thanks.