Knee arthritis

PaulaJ
PaulaJ Member Posts: 19
edited 29. May 2025, 10:16 in Living with arthritis

I have just been diagnosed with knee arthritis. I am 54. I don't know what to expect from the future now. My Mum who is nearly 80 has knee arthritis and she is struggling. I am able to cope relatively well at the moment on either Ibuprofen gel or tablets but I wonder what the future will hold. I am normally relatively active and I am signed up to do a 25km charity walk in September! Will I be able to do this, or will it cause me too much harm? I have done 25km walks before and they take me about 6 hours with rest break in the middle.

Comments

  • chrisb
    chrisb Moderator Posts: 794

    Hi @PaulaJ

    I guess the only way to find out is to gradually build up your training distances and see what reaction you get from your knees.

    This article on our website includes some exercises that would help to strengthen your knee muscles which you may wish to consider:

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

    I hope you receive some useful comments from forum members and good luck if you do take on the challenge.

    Best Wishes

    ChrisB (Moderator)

    Need more help - call our Helpline on 0800 5200 520 Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm

  • fred890
    fred890 Member Posts: 20

    Totally doable—just listen to your body and pace yourself.

  • PaulaJ
    PaulaJ Member Posts: 19

    Thank you so much. I'm still very much in shock at the moment and feeling negative about it but I know I need to just get on with it. I will start doing some longer walks and see how it goes. The challenge is not a race, its very relaxed and I am certainly not worried about the time I do it in! Its weird as I did a 25km challenge last year and I had only been walking about 10 minutes when I developed knee pain but luckily it went so I don't know if that was the start of it!

  • Adele1
    Adele1 Member Posts: 3

    Check with your doctor. My doctor told me to cut out long walks and just do cycling and swimming. I can't do the walks anyway now as in too much pain with both knees although the x-ray just shows mild osteoarthritis arthritis. Have appointment in two weeks to see NHS physiotherapist and then will hopefully get to referral to consultant.

    You are lucky the ibuprofen works for you. It doesn't do anything for me. Hopefully, the consultant will come up with some ideas.

    I am 59 now. I had a bunion correction op in 2003 and an operation on the bunion on the other foot in 2017. Looking back, I think the bunions were caused by arthritis. The arthritis has only just started to become quite painful and I also have mild arthritis in both hips. The knees are the worst though. Probably doesn't help that I have knock knees. I'm doing everything in slow motion have found pacing section on the website helpful.

    Best of luck.

  • PJoanne
    PJoanne Moderator Posts: 309

    Hello @Adele1

    Welcome to the forum, its great to have you here with us. Good to hear that you are finding the resources on the VA website useful.

    All the best Joanne

    Need more help - call our Helpline on 0800 5200 520 Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm

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