Originally Posted by
CACycling
A week and a half ago, my right knee started to hurt. Within 24 hours, I could barely walk. Rested it, elevated it and iced it but the pain continued. Went in for an x-ray and the diagnosis is calcification of the knee cartilage. Doctor was surprised, given the extent of damage, that this was my first serious bout with pain.
I've had minor knee pain over the years but it had all but disappeared since I started cycling a little over three years ago. This really caught me off guard. I'm being referred to an orthopedic surgeon and will see what my options are. I'll ask to have the other knee looked at as I assume it is in the same condition.
The good news is that, while painful, using the knee isn't causing further damage. And, now that the swelling has gone down, taking Alleve has eliminated most of the pain so I can get on with life while determining next steps.
And the better news is that I'm getting back in the saddle tomorrow. Coincedentally, I'd won a bid on eBay for a Shimano 105 compact crankset a few days prior to my knee flaring up (I finally admited to myself that it makes more sense for me than a standard crankset) and had time to install it on my road bike while I was laid up. Should be a bit easier on the knees and give me lower gearing when I'm ready to hit the hills again.
Anyone else here been down this road? I'd appreciate any insight or suggestions from someone with experience.
About 4.5 years ago, I was still jogging as well as bicycling and my left knee started to hurt. This led to arthroscopic surgery on the knee which cleaned up a torn meniscus (cartilage). Recovery was reasonably fast (I had been able to keep riding right up to the surgery) and I was able to do the 500 mile across NY state FANY ride that summer (surgery was in the spring).
I was just starting to get back into jogging when my right knee started to hurt. I think mostly from cycling. This started in fall, 2008. By laying off the bike for a while and then using a crank shortener on the right crank, I was able to keep riding up to surgery in December, 2008. The verdict here was I had no cartilage left in the outer half of the right knee - bone on bone. I was able to resume riding reasonably quickly, but attempts to play softball with the grad students or just a short run down the driveway led to pain, and I felt twinges in the knee. But I was able to ride and did the FANY ride in 2009, although I walked more hills than usual (I think because my training had been somewhat delayed by the surgery and also since I wasn't running any more, it's harder to stay in good shape over the winter).
This summer, I started having right knee pain in late June. I tried raising the seat, crank shorteners, etc., but couldn't make it go away and had to cancel my participation in the FANY ride. The orthopedist gave me an anti-inflamatory and sent me for physical therapy. He also told me to try riding the bike less and try swimming or an elliptical trainer. I took that under advisement and the next time I saw him told him no - my goal was to get back to riding the bike as much as before! Eventually he gave me a shot of synvisc (artificial synovial fluid - a lube job for the knee) and I have been building up the mileage and climbing since. Still feel twinges, but it seems they are getting less frequent. Last weekend, I did a 61 mile ride (flat) and on other weekends I've done shorter rides with some hills.
Apparently, one can get a new shot of synvisc every 6 months or so, but if that stops working, the next step would be a knee replacement. I think I'm actually looking forward to the knee replacement, but also think the longer I can postpone it, the better will be the artificial knee!
Sounds like your problem may be similar to mine. I'm surprised the docs didn't want to clean it out with arthroscopy. I suppose eventually, the ultimate solution is a knee replacement.
- Ed