New knee OA diagnosis by my GP on the Telephone.

jas64

Hello All,

My first post , any helpful advice would be appreciated please.

I have been getting a sore right knee for the past 3 weeks , got very painful 2 days ago after hoovering the front room , my knee became stiff , swollen and quite painful so i strapped it up with a elasticated knee support after putting bag of frozen peas on it, the swelling and pain diminished

and i just had my leg elevated during the rest of the day, i went online and logged a call back request on the NHS 111 service to get a diagnosis, i suspected it may be Osteoathritis after some online Dr googling! When a medic rang me from NHS111 service rang me in the morning he was pretty sure it is OA with the discription i gave him. So today after the Knee being rested i decided

to take a gentle walk with my wife with my knee support in place then after 5 mins into the walk

my knee got so painful i had to walk in such a way i started to limp much more painfull than the day

before so we returned home and applied ibuprofen gel and even took some cocodomol i rang Gp

for appointment and rang me back after morning surgery to tell me it sounds very much like i have

OA in my knee and told me to continue with what i was doing but to take 400 mg 3 times a day after a meal and to continue with this for a week in which the pain and inflamation would clear up.

Now what i would like to know can a diagnosis for Osteoarthritis of the knee be done accuratley over the phone without a physical examination, and can the pain spread into different parts of the leg?

many thanks.

Shell_H

Hi @jas64 - welcome to the online community!

I see you've had issues with your knee - stiffness, pain and swelling - and following a couple of different telephone calls with both a 111 doctor and your GP you've been given a diagnosis of Osteoarthritis and told to keep taking painkillers for a week and the inflammation will clear up. You want to know if it's possible to accurately diagnose osteoarthritis over the phone, and whether the pain can spread.

Well, Osteoarthritis is normally diagnosed based on a description of the symptoms and a manual examination of the affected area by a GP. An X-ray or other scan may be used to help, but they don't always show Osteoarthritis. So if your GP is experienced and your description is good then it may well be possible to diagnose over the phone. Given the swelling you have described I'd maybe request a blood test to rule out Rheumatoid Arthritis, as that also has swelling associated with it, but overall I'd trust your GP.

Sadly pain can spread to other parts of your body. It is called referred pain, and normally affects the areas near to your affected joints.

I've put a link below to information about Osteoarthritis which could help you to understand what it is you've been diagnosed with. You might also want to look into exercises and stretches specifically for your knee, as that can have a positive long term effect on both mobility and pain for you.

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/conditions/osteoarthritis/

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/exercising-with-arthritis/exercises-for-healthy-joints/exercises-for-the-knees/

https://youtu.be/nMkxh1Alz2A

Do have a look around the rest of the community - we are here for any questions or anything you want to share at all. We all have arthritis and can relate to what you're feeling.

Lovely to meet you!

Shell

frogmorton

Hi @jas64

My husband hurt his knee gardening just before COVID struck so luckily he could see a GP. After an MRI it turned out to be a torn ligament. Nothing at all to do with Arthritis. I don't know what is wrong with yours, but those knee exercises Shell suggests shouldn't do any harm and should help whatever is going on.

Ibuprofen was also part of my husband's treatment as well as physiotherapy. He only managed one appointment before COVID hit, but had been given his exercises to do so he was ok.

In your shoes I would carry on for a while do what the Dr said and if things don't subside ask for a face to face appointment?? Then you could request some actual tests and a physical examination.

Take care

jas64

Hello,

Thanks for the replies😊

Can i ask wether it might effect my left Knee aswell, does it mean if i have it in my right knee i might get it in other

parts of my body?

And what part in this does stress/anxiety play , can it make the condition worse?

I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in december 2020 and after cancellations and all the additional stress from

covid / lockdown etc i had Robotic surgery Prostatectomy in march 2021 so my anxiety /depression that i managed well for many years came back quite severely and i went onto develop IBS and now this, i thought

could be a link .

kind regards

frogmorton

We all think stress makes our conditions worse in fact it's a subject which comes up often. I'm not at all surprised you have suffered with your mental health after what you've been through. I hope all is well now.

You won't necessarily get Arthritis it in the other knee, but of course you could some people do go on to develop widespread OA but many only ever suffer with one joint. I have even met people who have coped on paracetamol and no more with a really bad joint bone on bone no cartilage! We are all different.

You know I really think a physio apt would be useful to get tailored advice how you can look after your joints. Then you might feel better able to take control and do what you can to help yourself. In many areas you can self refer to physiotherapy.

Best of luck

jas64

Hello Toni,

Thanks very much for the useful information, i will take your advice on getting some physio .

My Prostatectomy went well and i have 3 monthly PSA tests which remain at zero which is great , and post

surgery side effects are vey slowly getting better.

best wishes John

frogmorton

That is wonderful news to hear John.

Stay well and good luck with physio do let us know how you get on