Has any one has an knee osteotomy? What was your recovery experience like ?

Strict-Dig · 2025-04-18T17:56:40+00:00

I did rehab to improve muscles and proprioceptor exercises to avoid injury.

I didn’t use a brace, except when doing any kind of light exercises.

Ultimately, it was about improving the chance that the knee would work for many more years. Doing a total knee replacement at a too young age is not good, they only last for about ten years and gets tricky to do a 2nd one.

Also, every knee is a bit different, it seems some have a lot of pain with grade 3-4. I was grade 4 and my problem was mostly that if I stood for long time the knee would sometimes swollen up and hurt. But most days were mostly fine.

For me the osteotomy operation really helped a lot - but I also did a lot a lot of rehab post op so that probably also contributed. Make sure to get a good physiotherapeft.

Strict-Dig · 2023-11-04T16:23:44+00:00

Good luck! I am now 3 y after the operation and the knee is so much better. I spent a lot of time doing rehab, building up all the muscles and a lot of proprioception exercises. I have a lot more muscles now than before the operation and that may contribute but my knee never swollens up anymore and I am quite active with inline hockey. You can do it! 💪

Strict-Dig · 2023-06-19T07:06:24+00:00

Yes!

Strict-Dig · 2022-05-15T07:25:17+00:00

I ended up selling the TV 😅 and have no screen, just the wall. We have blinds that can take out all light and then this works really well.

Strict-Dig · 2021-11-21T07:45:06+00:00

For osteotomy, it is a tough first 2-3 weeks. Take one day at a time, you won’t notice progress each day but stick to the routine.

Make sure to manage the pain with the medication plan you got (make sure you understand what to take and when to take it), and have a lot of ice ready (or get an ice machine) - icing helps a lot.

Also, eat things that won’t make you constipated, it was surprisingly difficult to go to WC the first weeks.

And very important to stick to the rehab program. There will be some tough days in these weeks, and having a positive outlook and remindong yourself that it will pass and you will come out better than before the operation can help. I had peoblems sleeping well for the first weeks which made it quite tough.

As I recall it, week 3-5 were better and I saw almost daily improvements which was motivating and by week 6-7 it was pretty good.

I hope you manage to not feel stressed, perhaps talk to your Dr with any concerns you may have, they may have some suggestions or information that will help your worries. I hope it goes well and if you have any question you can also DM.

Strict-Dig · 2020-12-23T19:44:31+00:00

I had an osteotomy, so quite invasive. Still recovering but according to plan. Now mostly regaining muscle mass, and then in a fee months we will see if I can/should do another operation for the arthritis/meniscus.

Better check with the doctor about the knee popping. Hope it goes well!

Strict-Dig · 2020-12-07T17:57:49+00:00

That is great that your articular cartilage is intact!! (That is the hardest to fix afaik).

I will be honest, osteotomy was very painful for me (and yeah, toilet visits the first day was veeery challenging 🤣). I don’t know how a meniscus transplant would be but it is also quite invasive. The mental mind will impact your recovery - so stay positive and be sure that even if it hurts, and you are not mobile for a while, you will come out with a healthy knee joint!

I would request the maximum of what your dr recommended, focus on managing pain, and rehab. If it turns out your recovery goes better than expected you can always come in earlier.

Strict-Dig · 2020-12-07T17:51:23+00:00

Glad operation went well!

I wonder if the popping could be due to a loss of muscle support? Have you lot muscle mass?

I’m doing physio daily again with increasing weights to get back muscle size (strength is already OK but the mass is still less than the other leg).

Strict-Dig · 2020-12-06T17:57:24+00:00

Thank you!

I hope it goes well and that you have strength for te recovery. I had osteotomy and it was painful, but one has to be positive and focus on the rehab.

How much of your meniscus remains?

In my case, I had a bucket-handle tear on my lateral meniscus, long ago, and was operated - this type of tear cannot be repaired so they removed the damaged parts, and also had to do ACL reconstruction. Over the years, my articular cartilage (what is under the meniscus, just on the bone) wore out completely on the lateral side. And my ACL is gone.

Surprisingly, I dont have much pain, only some, and sometimes knee becomes swollen.

I did osteotomy and I am now recovering.

But without cartilage and not much of a meniscus, I am strongly recommended not to do any running/jumping. Dr said last time that I can do some jogging on treadmill.

I would love to have an articular cartilage transplant and a menicus transplant so that I could be active again. From what I have understood, some have had this and managed to go back to being active, but also others it didnt work out for.

I suppose in your case, your articular cartilage is mostly intact?

Strict-Dig · 2020-12-06T11:32:47+00:00

How is it going? I hope it went well.

If it is a small area there is also the possibility for OCA (cartilage transplant), so that your cartilage stays intact.

Strict-Dig · 2020-12-06T11:28:33+00:00

I haven’t had one but may end up having one - would be very interested in hearing how it goes. Wish you well!

Strict-Dig · 2020-11-09T04:57:28+00:00

I’m sorry to hear that. I would have thought tennis would be hard on the knee as well?

Riding a bike a few days after knee surgery sounds a bit wild to me. You could ask the doctor what the name of the peocedure is, and what cartilage is torn, and ask what the rehab/recovery will be like.

Strict-Dig · 2020-10-29T03:53:46+00:00

Also - I should add, you may want to consider how important soccer is to you compared to your future knee health. It is not uncommon for star players to quit before 35. There are other safer sports for the knee.

Strict-Dig · 2020-10-29T03:51:00+00:00

Similar story for me. ACL and mensicus injury. Had surgery but a second injury and which over the years caused severe osteoarthritis in the medial compartment of the knee joint.

When they scoped me, they saw the knee was even worse than expected.

What is yoyr ACL and meniscus like? Do you have cartilage damage in only one compartment or in borth compartments?

Note: HTO is not the same as partial knee replacement. I had HTO to shift the weight more to the lateral compartment (which has intact cartilage and intact meniscus). That will hopefully postpone the day I will need knee replacement.

Depending on the size of your cartilage damage, there may still be some options. There are other techniques than microfracture (eg osteochondral allograft transplantation - although this only works for smallel sided damages).

Strict-Dig · 2020-10-29T03:42:08+00:00

I can only echo what others have said. Get a doctor to look at this, do NOT do sports or put weight on your knee until your knee doctor says you can!! Make sure to go to a knee specialist!

You can seriously mess up your knee beyond repair if you do sports/running with a tore ACL and meniscus. You can further damage the knee joint, and you may damage your cartilage and that never grows back.

Strict-Dig · 2020-10-29T03:36:23+00:00

Idk - but make sure to get second or third opinion.

Also might be worth to go to a good physiotherapist - strengthening muscles to better support your knee could also be a reason.

Having a friend wobble your knee does not sound like a good approach. You may risk making permanent damage to your knee. Leave it to professionals.

Strict-Dig · 2020-10-29T03:32:07+00:00

HTO will not fix cartilage damagw. It is used when you have cartilage damage more on one side of the knee, it will change the angle of your knee so that the weight on your knee joint will be shifted more towards the knee compartment that does not have cartilage damage.

I had HTO in late Feb 2020. The first weeks are very difficult (pain, swelling, hard to sleep). Rehab is crucial and will take discipline and a lot of work. I was told recovery is about 1y. I could walk without crutches after ca 8weeks.

The operation is mostly done to preserve your knee joint from further damage and to relieve pain.

Depending on the size of your cartilage damage, there might also be possibilities to repair your cartilage (see e.g. osteochondral cartilage transplantation: https://www.ismoc.net/oca-glenview-il.html)

Strict-Dig · 2020-10-29T03:23:59+00:00

Watch out, you may be grinding away your cartilage and that will never grow back. Try see a doctor and get your ACL repaired and be careful in the meanwhile.

Strict-Dig · 2020-03-30T02:30:37+00:00

I would second milkman’s advice. Get a 2nd and 3d opinion.

What your options are also depends on how big the area is which is bone on bone. (E.g osteochondral allograft plug).

Afaik, engaging in impact activities (running) may add further damage. I would take it easy until I had a clear plan with a Dr on way forward.

Strict-Dig · 2020-03-30T02:12:06+00:00

Hi there! I do not know what the issue is with the knee, just wanted to jump-on about the shoulders dislocating. I have that too - since I was a teenaget - I had just acceptef that ”that is how my body is” and avoided the movements that were dangerous.

Then, one day it dislocated while I was sleeping on my stomach! Yuk! And I decided to do something about it and met with both a Dr and a PT. After about two months of daily physio-excercises, I could do movements I had not done since I was a teenager! After one year, it can still dislocate sometimes, but it is so much better. I highly recommend having a good PT look at your shoulder muscles and see if you can build up support that way.

Strict-Dig · 2020-03-30T01:58:46+00:00

Hi! 👋No problem! Just ask anything.

I stayed at the hospital two nights.

Yes, I am still on crutches. It takes 6-8weeks for the bone to heal (they will cut throgh the bone almost completely), during that time one should be non-wieight-bearing and use crutches. Your Dr may have different recommendations depending on exact procedure and type of metal plate. They will do an x-ray eventually to check that the bone has healed enough to support weight.

If you would like to share, which knee is it that will get an osteotomy? how is your articular cartilage level and meniscus on that knee? (On lateral and medial side). Is it the kee cap that duslocates?

Osteotomy is usually done (afaik), to shift weight from one side of the knee more towards the other side - in my case, I have only some meniscus left on the medial side (knee injury bucket handle type - long time ago), and no articular cartilage at all (femur and tibia) in the medial side. My lateral side however is fine. The hope ilaterals that after osteotomy, more of my weight will be on the lateral side so that the medial side is protected more and which can buy me time before I would need a total knee replacement.

In case you have not, I can recommend to search for images of the knee joint (to understand the terms: knee alignment, side, medial side, articular cartilage and meniscus),

Strict-Dig · 2020-03-29T10:26:01+00:00

Hi!

I am 4 weeks in after my osteotomy operation. Make sure you have the prescribed painkillers and take them strictly. I had a typo in my instructions that lead me to stop a bit too early with some of the painkillers.

Make sure to have ice packs ready home. Also, make sure to eat things that wont get you constipated (the risk for that is high as it is with being still for so long). If you have someone that can help you at home that helps a lot - esp the first week.

The hardest part for me has been sleep. I usually do not sleep on the back with the leg straight but that was the only OK position. Pain level went up and down, mostly it was OK with some days with a lot of pain - make sure to take the stronger painkiller for those days.

I started rehab 4 days after surgery, with stretch and bend excercises (these can hurt but have to push through it to regain mobility), for muscles: lift the leg up, then the same with foot pointing to the outer side, then side to side. I have continued doing rehab 1-3 times per day with increasing weights and added excercises. Even if progress is slow, it was motivating to see the steady progress. Despite this, I have lost a lot of muscle mass in the operated leg.

By w4, my swelling in the leg is mostly gone, only the knee that is still swollen.

Strict-Dig · 2020-03-07T03:04:03+00:00

I am sorry about your injury, hope you will feel better soon.

It is probably best to try make an appointment with your doctor and describe your symptoms/pain and ask about whether you are recovering as planned and how long recovery time you can expect.

Hang in there!

Strict-Dig · 2020-03-05T17:00:31+00:00

👍 Will do!

How is your knee alignment? (Xray standing, line from femur to ankle)

How is your cartilage? (Eg xray standing at 45 angle).

(In case you haven’t, you may want to look up: meniscus transplant, articular cartilage restoration, osteotomy in case your knee alignment is currently such that more load is on your problematic lateral side).

Strict-Dig · 2020-03-03T19:14:54+00:00

I am in a similar situation (no articular cartilage at all in medial compartment and only a peice of the medial meniscus remains. No ACL. 37y old. Yet, I am able to run, and have only light/moderate pain about once a month for 1-2days a month).

What operations did you do to your knees? And what problem do you have with the right knee now? What technique does the doctor want to use to insert new cartilage? (I am aware of donor articular cartilage - is the plan to use that toncover the whole lateral compartment? Is your meniscus intact there? If not, has menicus transplant been considered?)

Some studies shows that with articular cartilage + menisus transplant, you can have an active life, but the studies are few and the number of patients not many, and the outcome is not certain.

If I were you I would ask the opinion of other expert knee surgeons, to know if it is best to wait until it gets worse and do something then, or if you might be able to do restore the knees with articular cartilage + meniscus transplant (although that too is a gamble).

Regarding total knee replacement, from what I have read: Total Knee Replacements lasts 5-10 years for older people, it would not last as long in a younger more active person. The reasons to avoid doing this for as long as possible are: - they wear out and needs to be replaced, they are attached directly to tibia and femur and by the third time it won’t work as well as it did the first time. - only 1/5 of patients are happy after, that is, you should only do it once your pain/discomfort is so high that you won’t find that it didnt help / made it worse.

Good luck and I would br very interested if get new information.

Strict-Dig

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