General: Spode's Knee Surgery

Phew, thank Buddha it's a good swear filter we have here.

are you getting one of those really expensive custom bikes for people with medical conditions, cus that would help.

My knee cartilage op (keyhole) took about a year to get back to completely normal, so a bit more time yet Spode.
These tendons we have seem to be really weak sometimes, I've recently ripped out the tendon that controls the first joint in my right thumb. I cannot even remember how I managed to do that? No sense no feeling I guess!

Thanks to my Google juice, I get a lot of people e-mailing me about my Hoffa Pad knee surgery. So I felt I should probably write up a "then and now" on my knee.

The first thing I would say, is that my knee didn't fully start to feel "normal" again until after about a year. Then it frankly felt the strongest it's ever felt in years. Before the surgery, I was in constant pain and on an assortment of pain killers to keep the pain at bay. Although I still get occasional tendon pain now - it's 10000% times better - I take the occasional Diclofenac/Naproxen to keep any swelling down if it gets irritated.

The question I have to ask, and I still ask, is - was it the surgery, or simply the amount of time I took off the bike? Even after I started riding again, I kept my riding to a minimum for the year following as I found pounding on concrete could set off the pain (unlike grass). So I've realsitically had a good 18 months for my knee to settle and heal.

Now, I'm riding 2-3 times a week without any major issues. I have managed to notice which particular bike moves cause my Patella Tendon pain and I've adjusted my riding style accordingly. My theory is that I'm landing with a twisted knee, which is straining the tendon in ways it shouldn't. I am not very flexible at all - my hips especially, and what happens is that my knee joint ends up moving when the hip should be - so much so, that if I try and sit cross legged, my knee pops out of the socket. When your knee hurts all the time - it's hard to notice what causes pain, but now that no pain is the norm - it's easier to see what causes it and adjust.

Annoyingly - I have developed another knee problem, in the same knee. Strangely, nothing to do with riding (in fact, it probably helps!) - but from what I can work out, caused by driving. My knee got so bad that I couldn't walk on it, and I had an MRI, which showed up nothing. From what they theorised, I have an inflammation of the cartilage under my knee cap. This seems to be made worse every time I drive a car, and is painful when I sit with my knee bent. It went away for a while, but keeps flaring up - so I might consider a doctor visit again.

So - a lot of people e-mail me, realistically, to find out if this surgery is worth having. I find it hard to say definitively yes or no as I'm still rather torn over if it was rest or the surgery that helped. I did have my leg in a cast for 6 weeks once and completely immobilised - and when I came back, the knee pain started again after a couple of weeks. But the fact the pain got slightly better, is indicative that perhaps I just needed to rest it for longer.

I exhausted absolutely every option available to me - ankle fixed, leg in plaster, physio for ages. If you can honestly say you've done this, then surgery might be the option. I certainly don't feel any detrimental effects from having the surgery - it's pretty minor. If you have the option though - consider a good 6 months of inactivity to see how it feels.

If anyone else tries this - please do leave your feedback here for others who might be suffering from the same problem.

I shall look into that!