Knee Surgery

S4rah

Hi, my name is Sarah. I'm due to have my right knee replacement on the 31st of October but the pain is unbearable at the moment, can anyone recommend any pain relief creams or knee patches that are good to ease the pain. I've used deep heat and Voltarol, no help at all.

Poppyjane

Hello @S4rah welcome to the online community

You are due to have a knee replacement at the end of October and are finding the pain unbearable. There are a lot of discussions about forms of pain relief and I hope our members will share their experiences with you. Meanwhile I attach some links which I hope you will find helpful.

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/complementary-and-alternative-treatments/types-of-complementary-treatments/capsaicin/

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/treatments/electronic-pain-relief/

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/treatments/surgery/knee-replacement-surgery/

There are useful gel pads or wheat bags which members find bring temporary relief.

We wish you well for your operation, do let us know if you find a pain relief that works for you.

Best wishes

Poppyjane

jonr

Hello @S4rah and welcome.

I'm awaiting a double total knee replacement and use all manner of things to manage my pain.

I presume you're on prescribed NSAIDs from your GP already (assuming you can tolerate these), but as anti-inflammatories don't do an awful lot for pain management on their own then in my case I've turned to the following:

Gels

FlexiSeq (helps lubrication to reduce stiffness, crunching and grinding)

Capsaicin Cream (hard to buy in pharmacies, I get mine from a well-known online auction house)

5KIND Hemp Gel, looks horrible, smell nice but best of all it deadens whatever it's rubbed onto

Capsules and pills

CBD capsules (I buy a brand online called Hempura, 300Mg which I take on demand)

Co-Codemol (Paracetemol and Codeine, highest strength from behind the counter in pharmacies)

Other

A TENS machine can provide instant relief and the effects can last for hours afterwards

Acupuncture. Now, depending on how long you need to wait before surgery, for me this was a Godsend. Mind you, it took 8 weekly sessions before I noticed any real effects. I now go once a month but it's helped reduced my pain down to a background level 1/2, I've not had any locks for months and get a lot less flare-ups and when I do get them, they're way less severe than they used to be.

Hope some of these help

jon