Arthosamid Injections for Knee Osteoarthritis

Interesting. I know some people have very good responses. What sort of knee OA do you have? For me, its the patellofemoral joint, which I think is birth defect because its both knees, they are both about as bad as each other and one of the specialists said my patellofemoral joint was slightly dysplastic. In contrast my tibiofemoral joints, which is the bit that usually goes for people with knee OA are in the words of another specialist "in very good condition".

Another thing that makes me think the injection works better for tibiofemoral OA is the laughable inappropriateness of the rehab exercises on the arthosamid site. Squats, lunges and any sort of weighted exercise are a disaster for my sort of OA.

As it is nearly 6 months since my Arthrosamid injection I thought I'd provide another update. For the first 3 or 4 months I saw virtually no improvement. Certainly when I saw the consultant after 3 months the change was very limited. However, over the past six weeks or so there has definitely been a very marked improvement.

For example, I did a 12km hike today with about 300m of ups and downs. I had no issue going up and coming down was considerably easier than even 2 weeks ago, which itself was an improvement on what I'd been able to do previously. I've found the same with cycling where I am now able to use much more force on the pedals than previously. My knee swelling has almost disappeared too and even at the end of my walk the knees are feeling a lot less stiff than before.

I am seeing the consultant in a few weeks and am now seriously weighing up whether replacement surgery is the best option.

Had my operation yesterday. The surgeon only needed to to the tibial tubercle osteotomy, he said he would leave the petella facetectomy for the moment because the tracking was so far off, that the whole patella now fits inside the trochea groove rather than overlapping as previously and the worn out lateral bit should be thoroughly unloaded now. One day on there is virtually no pain even being up and around.

An operation is not something to be taken lightly, even if this knee recovers I need the same procedure on the other one. Nearly a year on from the Arthrosamid injection I think it did work to reduce the inflammation which definitely helped with day to day tasks, but not for recreational exercise activities, as evidenced by my need to use an ebike and retire my manual bikes. And now the arthritic part of the patella is unloaded and not having had a particularly invasive operation on the patella the Arthrosamid can come into its own, so I can still see value in having the procedure.

Have had knee trouble on and off for a couple of years. A few falls over the years and a previously sporty lifestyle likely have contributed. Had an op to repair torn meniscus in left knee in February but with only limited improvement and it’s now worse than before. Had cortisol injections in both knees in November and May but they didn’t last more an a week or so. My right knee is now as bad. I’m in so much pain, the stiffness is so debilitating and a full nights sleep is a distant memory. Have tried food elimination without any improvement.
My consultant says although I have some arthritis and a little area of bone on bone, my knees are not bad enough for full knee replacements. Honestly I’m at my wits end trying to cope with the pain. At my consultants suggestion I’m having Athrosamid in both knees tomorrow. Im just praying it helps.

So I had my Athrosamid injections this morning.
Very pleased with the the way the procedure was conducted. Six antibiotics/penicillin tablets given an hour before.
Consultant Radiologist was lovely. He explained exactly what was about to happen, the risks and the expected outcome. He was very thorough in making sure everything was sterile.

He used ultrasound to find the best path to the joints showing me on the scanner and marking that point on each knee. The local anaesthetic was a bit painful to begin with but that soon eased. He then used the ultrasound again to guide the needle into the exact spot he wanted to inject taking his time to be accurate. The Athrosamid gel was then injected with no pain whatsoever. I arrived at 10 am and left around 12.15. The injections themselves took about half an hour.
I had read on a post to maybe expect some tummy trouble (probably due to the medication) and that is exactly what I have. Some griping pains started about 12.30 and are subsiding now but whenever I eat or drink anything it stars again for a few minutes. Got “the runs” too but I expect that will ease by tomorrow. Drinking loads of water.
Whilst the local anethsetic was still in my knees I had no pain. It felt wonderful! I fell asleep on the sofa for a few hours this afternoon and when I tried to get up my knees were very stiff and sore and I had to have help getting off the sofa. They are now sore in the back of the knees and starting to ache at the front, it’s difficult to walk. I’m not upset about this as having read so many accounts of the fall out from the procedure I was expecting that. I’ve been walking around the house intermittently as I guess it’s a keep moving/rest balance.
For anyone concerned about the actual procedure itself, don’t be. It was a breeze.
A huge thank you to everyone who posted their experiences on here. It’s been tremendously helpful in managing my expectations today and most likely going forward.
I’ll post a progress update over the weekend.