Hello,
My dad is a snowbird in Florida and NY. The problem is with his knees.
 He has no cartilidge between his knee bones. He is 83 years old and
overweight and has lymphedemia.  My question is what can be done to
make his knees less painful. Is there a cartiledge injection which
would help him and if so what and where could we get it done.  Thanks
for your help.  Sue

Hello Sue,

   An orthopedic surgeon should evaluate your dad for possible
remedies. The surgeon can determine if your dad is a candidate for a
knee replacement, arthroscopic surgery, an offloader brace, or Synvisc
injections.


Synvisc is a gel type substance, made from rooster combs! It is
injected into the knee and lasts 3-6 months. It helps cushion the knee
where cartilage has been eroded.
http://www.synvisc.com/


About arthroscopic surgery:
http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/brochure/thr_report.cfm?Thread_ID=33&topcategory=Ab...

http://www.arthroscopy.com/sp05018.htm



Knee Braces
http://www.anatomicalconcepts.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23&Itemid=28

http://familydoctor.org/490.xml 

http://www.southern.usta.com/sportscience/fullstory.sps?iNewsid=330968&itype=3919&icategoryid=395


The orthopod needs to assess the cause of the pain, before determining
the best form of treatment. I'd suggest you read over these solutions
and make your dad an appointment with a recommended orthopedic
surgeon. His own primary care doctor can make such a recommendation,
if friends don't.


Some studies have shown that glucosamine sulfate and chondroitin may
indeed help replace some cartilage, and also ease the pain of
osteoarthritis. Your dad's doctor can also prescibe one of a number of
anti-inflammatory drugs to ease the pain.

"Past studies show that some people with mild to moderate
osteoarthritis (OA) taking either glucosamine or chondroitin sulfate
reported pain relief at a level similar to that of nonsteroidal
anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as aspirin and ibuprofen. Some
research indicates that the supplements might also slow cartilage
damage in people with OA. Definitive results about the effects of
these supplements are expected from an in-depth clinical study
currently being conducted by the National Institutes of Health."
http://www.arthritis.org/conditions/alttherapies/Glucosamine.asp


"Conclusions  Our study demonstrates the structural efficacy of
glucosamine and indistinguishable symptomatic efficacies for both
compounds. Regarding the relatively sparse data on glucosamine and
joint space narrowing and the absence of data on structural effects of
chondroitin, further studies are needed to investigate the
relationship among time, dose, patient baseline characteristics, and
structural efficacy for an accurate, disease-modifying
characterization of these 2 compounds."
http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/163/13/1514?etoc


"An analysis of clinical trials on glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate
for treating osteoarthritis has shown that these compounds may have
some efficacy against the symptoms of this form of arthritis."
http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/fact/thr_report.cfm?thread_id=220&topcategory=Knee


I wish your dad all the best.

Sincerely, Crabcakes


Search Terms
============

knee offloaders
knee brace
Synvisc
arthroscopic surgery
glucosamine sulfate + chondrotin

Thank you so much for the info.  It is really appreciated.

Cod liver oil is apparently very good for that sort of thing.
Hope that helps!

Visit  http://web-owls.com/  to see where the Google Researchers are!