Told I will need an arthroscopy - any advice please ?

[mrsblakey]

I posted on here a few weeks ago about knee replacements.
I was back to see my consultant who has advised a short term fix of an arthroscopy to wash the knee out.

Anyone had any experience of this procedure -the last time I was in hospital was over 40 years ago so am feeling a little nervous !!

I've had two. you get two little holes either side of your knee and they go in and basically can have a good look inside and see the state of everything and give everything a clean up and see if this helps before doing anything else.

I can't comment on recoverey time as I had more than just the arthroscopy both times, but is certainly gave more information on the state of my Knee. good luck.

I had the op in 2006 and had 3 entry points for trimming catilage tears.
I was in so much pain coming round I was shouting out like a child. Thought I had dreamt it, but when I asked, the nurse said I did do that and was given a morphine jab.

I remember the swollen disfigured knee which upset me the most as took ages to go down. It was painful for a few weeks.

How are you today?

cartilage

had one to repair torn cartilage when I was pregnant, so it was done under local. I couldn't walk much then anyway due to pregnancy complications but I did have weekly physio and lots of muscle building exercises afterwards. was massive improvement over pain and difficulty walking caused by tear immediately and healed very well and fast. actual op was fine, although I wouldn't repeat the local injection in a hurry, they swelled my knee up at the same time, but I wasn't up to watching it all on TV as they operated

I had an ankle arthroscopy. I have rheumatoid arthritis and it washed out all the inflammation and 'crap' to quote my fab ortho doc. It made a huge amount of difference to my pain levels and gave me some movement back. And yes, it is a short term fix but it was worth it IMO.

I've had 2 - one for torn cartilage (to remove a bit) and the other to "shave" the knee cap. Both were uncomfortable but not hugely painful. I did ask for painkillers as soon as I came round, but then walked out of hospital the same day on crutches. With the second one, I didn't actually use the crutches again.

My Dad (71) had the same thing as the OP. He had an awful knee infection and needed an arthroscopy to wash out the gunge. I think he had 2. While he survived the infection (touch and go at times), septic arthritis had destroyed the cartilage, and until he had a replacment some 9 months later he had difficulty in walking.

Good luck.

Thanks guys -very useful.

I am in so much pain at the moment I wont hesitate in getting it done.Just hope I get an appointment really quick !

I've had one in my jaw years ago. Uncomfortable afterwards but not too bad. Swelling and bruising went down over a few weeks. Good luck!

I had one a couple of years ago to remove and repair torn cartilage. Was walking same day, no stick, no painkillers, hardly any swelling.

A few years back I had cartilage removed in the other knee plus a lateral release to repair kneecap that kept dislocating i.e. sliding off its track. That involved a three inch cut across the front of the knee as well as the usual arthroscopy holes. Very little pain, crutches for one day, massive swelling and ice bags needed. Because the knee was arthritic the swelling was probably worse than it would otherwise have been.

No big deal though and certainly helped the old knees!

op ask the hospital to go on the cancellation list - if you can make it short notice that could well get you sorted a bit quicker.

DS (13) had this procedure last month. Operation took about 60-90 minutes and he was not in any pain afterwards. Used crutches the same evening and went home the following morning.
There was some swelling and we put some ice on the knee every evening.
Building up the muscle in the upper leg should help with the recovery. DS is a black belt in tae kwon do and his legs are very strong and this helped him recover quickly.

I had one a few years ago to trim cartilage. I was in pain afterwards but it wasn't horrendous, and there was some swelling which again was fine, as long as I rested my leg. A couple of weeks later I was back at work walking normally.