Gla:d program for knee arthritis
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Saturday I over did it and my knee locked up completely, severe pain, then around 5AM I rolled over in bed felt a pop and it unlocked and went back to "baseline" ROM. Weird.
Last night I tripped over my dog and fell hard on my bad knee (and face
), so it is battered and bruised but didn't seem to do any real damage.
Had my first session this morning - mostly bands and body weight type stuff - got through it OK. Left glutes are super weak so have to concentrate on making sure to engage them in the exercises. Also enrolled as part of a study where they will track my progress and follow to see when/if participants in this program end up getting knee replacements and if it helps to prevent or delay that - so that's interesting.
I hope you'll be willing to update us occasionally on how it's going. I, for one, am really interested in non-surgical interventions that can help put off surgery, improving functioning, etc.
Glad to hear you had a positive pop, and the fall didn't cause any major damage. Bodies are weird!
Well I spoke too soon my knee stiffened up and was really, really sore this afternoon. Iced it when I got home from work and it's a bit better. I have another session on Friday so will have to check how much pain is normal/expected when starting out. Probably going straight from physio to sitting all day at my desk at work.wasn't ideal.
Sympathies! For quite a long time, I was icing my worse knee (and sometimes both) after every single significant workout, just as a matter of routine.
FWIW, in case you haven't see these but it appeals to you, I got some nice gel-filled reusable ice packs that have velcro straps to hold them in place, and are just a nice size for knees. They stay pliable even when frozen, so will wrap nicely. (They're not well-secured enough to be walking around in them, but will hold in place when sitting in a chair or something, better than balancing a normal ice pack.) I just kept some in the freezer, cold, all the time, ready to use. They were on the shelf with other ice pack type stuff at some drug store chain outlet locally, like CVS or Rite Aid (don't remember for sure which one, it's been a while - but pretty available here).
Thank you I do have these, I usually use them in the evening but I will take it with me next time to use when I get to work.
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kshama2001 wrote: »I'm late to this party, but: I have at least one torn meniscus (diagnosed via MRI), and I think I've torn the other one, too (feelz) . . . and suspect both were at least made more acute, if not fully caused, by running (not very much running, even). I do have some OA, not super bad I think, and some debris in the joint (presumably from the meniscus or OA). I was offered surgery (clean-up, first; with likelihood of needing knee replacement later whether I had the clean-up or not).
Things that have helped reduce discomfort, improve function:
* Cortisone shot: Just had one, which helped me feel enough better that I could do . . .
* PT, focused on helping me learn to walk and especially climb stairs in ways that would reduce knee stress. (PT assessment found my muscular strength was OK, or we would've worked on that, too. I was not new to exercise at that time.)
* Weight loss - huge improvement. Maybe the single biggest persistent improvement, for me. One of several reasons I prefer to be on the lower-ish side of normal BMI range (around 21 +/1), a thing that's OK for my skeletal configuration.
* Experimenting to figure out what types of exercises made things worse in a persisting way, and avoiding those (I still do some that don't feel great while doing them, but that don't seem to make things head downhill further over time). I think this will vary by person, but I find I can do things that involve strong, straight-line pushing (rowing, cycling), but need to avoid high impact (running, high-impact dance-y things); most things with fast-break moves (say, running games like tennis or basketball); or things that involve turning on a weighted leg (some of the game type stuff, some martial arts).
* Good shoes, not too worn out, for longer walking especially.
* Experimenting with sleeping positions, pillow props, etc., to minimize nighttime discomfort, maybe improve sleep quality.
* I say this next with trepidation: Acupuncture, which I did briefly, but with good effect. I'm not usually suggestible, but the science to support this is poor to limited, so 🤷♀️.
* The stronger I get (without causing more injury), the better.
* To a limited extent, paying attention to balance, both balanced muscular strength, and unbalanced tightness (stretching or massaging/foam rolling things that get too tight), in the knee-related muscle groups.
Totally subjective experience, no proof, just my opinions, blah blah blah.
Oh, this caught my eye when it was mentioned it on the stairs thread. I see my PT Monday and will have to remember to ask her about it. She has 5 stairs in the PT room and I've added a reminder in my phone.
Hope you learn something useful. You may be doing it right. I wasn't. I assume there could be multiple ways to do it wrong, too. 🙄 I needed to push from the bottom leg more, pull from the top leg less.
Yes, my way of climbing stairs wrong was using too much toe and not enough heel.
My brain really hurts when I try to do stairs while concentrating on using the back leg AND heel. She says not to worry about it when I am carrying boxes up the stairs as she does not want me to lose my balance. But, the reason I'm having problems is that I am moving and am spending a LOT of time on stairs with boxes 1 -
Update in case anyone is interested -
My knee is better beyond my wildest expectations - like 90%+ better. Flexion is the same as the other knee, extension has improved but still can't quite straighten completely. Pain is practically non existent. Walking normally up and down stairs, and walking my dogs again WITHOUT my knee brace, which hasn't happened since probably March?
Not sure what to make of this tbh. Finding it hard to believe that a couple of weeks of targeted exercise would make this much difference. I still suspect I possibly had some meniscus injury that had already begun to heal. Or maybe that "good" pop I felt in mid-October was an errant meniscus flap going back where it was supposed to.
Physiotherapist also suspects that the targeted exercises may be helping the popliteal cyst to drain and that is helping with pain and mobility. I am scheduled for an MRI next week and was going to cancel, but think I will go ahead anyway to see what is going on, I am curious to see if the cyst is actually shrinking after 3+ years.
At any rate - woohoo - whatever is happening in my knee is good news. Still need lots of work on strengthening, glutes especially, but things are looking up.3 -
So happy things are getting better. I'm a firm believer in the correct exercises to help with pain and stiffness. Keep us updated as you go along. I'm certainly interested.1
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Re Gla:d I see the Aussies provide a thick PDF:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://gladaustralia.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/MANUAL_2020.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjZx67-of3zAhXEB80KHV0QD9YQFnoECBgQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1TeL8DsiaUw6d6cZ0e-LA7
No experience of arthritis, but common patellar tendonitis taught me the importance of good ankle and hip strength and mobility, weaknesses at the far end of anchored muscles pulling the knee joint off-track. Good luck with the programme.1 -
@33gail33 -- I'm so happy for you! That's a great update. If you have pain or a slight setback, don't give up. Sounds like you're having tremendous progress.
I think it was that meniscus causing the most pain. Sounds like that's healing nicely. You'll likely come out of this whole painful experience much stronger.1 -
Back doing full spin workouts - in and out of the saddle. Just 20 minutes every other day, but feels great to get the heart pumping and sweat again.
MRI tonight if there is nothing structural impeding full mobility (which I suspect there won't be at this point) I might look into acupuncture and some targeted massage therapy to try to see if I can get the last few degrees of extension back. Then very slowly start back with deadlifts and (body weight) squats to start.
I have always said that I "can't squat" because of my knee issues, maybe going to try to work through that mental barrier this time. :)
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Great! After injury and pain, you appreciate movement so much more. Be cautious and you'll be back to normal in no time.1
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Don't put too much strain on yourself right after the pain is gone. This can cause you to have problems with your leg again. When I had issues with my joints, I was treated for a long time. After I was cured, my doctor at cameronmch.com strictly forbade me to do challenging physical exercises. But he stressed that exercise was a must. I tried yoga and bought a membership to the pool. Honestly, I liked yoga a lot. If it wasn't for my joint problems, I never would have tried yoga.0
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I just started the Gla-d program. It's fabulous. It focuses on education, support and exercises to strengthen muscles that support the knee. I'm also very active, hiking a lot which I can't do now because of serious knee pain. I am doing 30 minutes though daily on the treadmill. Like you, I am being careful and not doing it at the same level I was before. One of the things they did stress is that losing even 10 pounds can make a huge difference on the knees. Hence why I'm here and trying one day at a time to hopefully lose a bit of weight.
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