Osteoarthritis Q & A

I am 20 and I have recently been diagnosed with osteoarthritis in my elbow. I have already had elbow arthroscopy to remove loose bodies 2 years ago. The doctor told me the only other thing to do is have an elbow replacement but I am too young for that. I am very active and am having a lot of problems doing any physical activity. I was wondering if there is any other treatment option that will at least some what relieve my pain and allow me to live a some what normal life until I am able to have an elbow replacement.

I am a 60 year old male with generalized osteoarthritis. My neck is steadily becoming more and more uncomfortable. Is it practical to consider having my neck fused to stop the arthritic process in this region?

I believe I strained my groin muscles in March of 2006 by increasing the resistance on a Nordic track to much too soon. My GP said that a groin strain could take up to 9 months to heal. By Jan, 2007 I felt almost completely healed and started to exercise vigorously again. Unfortunately I went too fast too soon, and injured myself again. While going 4 miles an hour on a treadmill, I heard and felt a sound like “phft” twice. I was then diagnosed with an inguinal hernia. In March 2007 I had the inguinal hernia repaired. But ever since my groin has been swollen and painful. The surgeon says the surgery was successful and he does not know why I have swelling and a painful groin. I recently went to a sports medicine doctor. After examining me he said he thought I might have arthritis in my hip and he ordered x-rays. The x-rays showed that I did indeed have arthritis in the hip. My sports medicine doctor thought that was the cause of my swelling and pain in the groin. He said he was 75% confident. The aspect of the situation that makes me not confident about the sports medicine doctor’s diagnosis is that it does not seem to fit with the history of my injury. That is I think in both instances, I experienced an injury and not a reaction to arthritis in the hip. I have been struggling with the pain in my groin now for over a year. My sports medicine doctor said I should try recumbent bicycling and swimming for two months and then come back. He said then one way we could find out if the hip was the cause of the groin pain was to inject cortisone into the hip. He said that if the cortisone injected into the hip eliminated the pain in the groin, while not a permanent solution, it would prove that the hip was causing the pain in the groin. My confusion is the contradiction between treating the groin pain as a result of an injury or treating it as a result of arthritis in the hip. Can you help me get clearer about this? Is my sports medicine doctor on the right track? Thank you for your consideration. Irv Seidman

I have had an MRI and was determined that I had torn cartiladge in my left knee. I have heard that Rooster Cone can be injected to help with this. Is that true?

The doctor I saw for my knee pain has recommended Synvisc injections. When I asked him how painful the injections were, he was very vague. Frankly, I’m petrified. I am assuming that a needle of any size in the knee is going to be much more painful than a normal injection into fatty tissue. What do you patients tell you about the pain of the injections?

how young can a patient be to get knee replacement. i was in a car accident with a drunk driver 14 yrs ago. i’ve had authroscopic surgury done on both knees 3 times at the same time(healing is better that way), cortisone shotes, therapy 3 times, predisone package, and now synvisc. i am now 41 and the pain is worse. they tell me that i’m too young for knee replacement because i would use them up too fast. my thoughts are “why”? why cant i get the necessary use out of them. if a 70 yr old person can get very minimal use out of them then why cant i get the most out of them. please give me some insight. thanks