How bad does knee osteoarthritis have to be before I see a specialist?

Megrose489

I recently had a very bad flareup of inflammation and swelling in my osteoarthritic knee which lasted for about 4 months. The pain was terrible - I felt very unwell - and I couldn't weight-bear for much of that time. My GP gave me a steroid injection which took 5 weeks before I felt any benefit. I persuaded the doctor to send me for an x-ray and this showed 'joint space narrowing, subchondral sclerosis and bone-on-bone articulation' of the patellofemoral joint, which I understand to be the kneecap.

Thankfully, the pain and swelling has eased, but the knee gives way occasionally. I don't really want a TKR, but am just wondering, with the joint being bone-on-bone, is this likely to be the next step? How bad does my knee have to be before I'm referred to a specialist?.

noddingtonpete

Hello @Megrose489 I'm afraid your question is difficult to answer as it all depends on your GP or Consultant and their opinion. The only advice I can give is keep asking them the question. In the meantime have a look at the following, I hope there is something that can give you a bit of relief.

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

and

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/conditions/knee-pain/

Best wishes

Peter

jonr

Hello @Megrose489 - I think you have 2 choices. 1: Ask your GP to refer you to MSK, it is they who will determine what care pathway to put you on and carry out any surgery or 2: If you live in England, you can ask to be referred to an organisation called Connect Health which is a sort of fast track service for MSK conditions on behalf of the NHS, this is the route I took and it's way faster than waiting months for a conventional appointment.

Is a replacement the next logical step? Well, once you're bone-on-bone (stage 3 Severe or 4 Chronic) it's probably the only option if you're struggling to have any quality of life, etc. Knees giving way is typical alas, the muscles and tendons surrounding the weakened joint have to pick up the slack which adds to the pain and they usually can't cope. The way to combat this is through a great deal of physio and exercise but many sufferers struggle with what's required unless they've got decent pain management.