Sandy Knee History

by Sandy Close
(Kenmore, NY USA)

I am now 40, but when I was 16 to 18 I had about 6 knee injuries to both legs due to the love of soccer.

R- full leg cast - ICL
R -Lenox hill brace
R - arthogram - knee imobilizer
R - orthoscope

L - orthroscope
L- knee reconstruction - ACL


After the reconstruction I was literally done. I probably have been living with a torn ACL in my right leg for 20 years now. It
has popped out for so long now, I live it. My life change was not being able to run / jog long distances.

Seems I fix my right leg, my left gets hurt. I fix my left leg and my right knee has problems.

I have finally torn my meniscus in my right leg after all this time and hoped to fix my right knee with a simple orthoscope.

My choices are to orthoscope for my meniscus and later date fix my ACL. I am probably going for 1 surgery instead of 2, but I have 3 young kids. Lastly my left knee is stiffening when I walk which
could be from all the therapy I have done to finally get the insurance to pay for my MRI or perhaps my knee is finally going after a 20 year ACL surgery or its plainly in my head.
Chronic knee injuries is a pain, no pun intended. Thanks for listening.

Any thoughts be glad to hear them. My kids are young and I am a bit shaken to think about an ACL surgery. Although it has been 20 years since my first one, I can still remember it oh so very well.

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Sandy Knee History

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Jun 03, 2009
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My knee is grooving
by: Tony Menyhart


I will be 60 this summer and for 40 of those years I have played competitive rugby. I have been relatively injury free but the game is hard on the knees. I had one small arthroscopic surgery, but from when I was 50, my orthopedic surgeon showed me the X-ray of bone hitting on bone and he said he would give me a knee replacement whenever I couldn’t stand the pain. I sought a second opinion and received the same answer.

I felt that a knee replacement was inevitable. Even my sister, who never played rugby, had both knees replaced by age 60. But because I have a high pain tolerance, I don’t get Novocain at the dentist, and with the help of what aging ruggers call vitamin I (ibuprofen), I was able to get by. My left knee hurt when I ran on it, but worse, it hurt more later as bone on bone friction caused “water” on the knee. The pressure made it difficult to even drag my knee into the car on bad days.

It wasn’t only exercise that caused the pain. When on vacation doing what I call the museum trudge, walking on concrete caused a lot of swelling. I was about to give up and get the knee. Then I met Alice Brown on January 22th at an inventors conference. She spotted me as a candidate, fitted me on the spot, and I have hardly taken the knee brace off since.

Within a week I could feel the difference. I became eager to run even in this worst winter of the decade. The pain subsided some, but did not go away entirely. But the “Water” on the knee syndrome lessened immediately. After a month of use I realized that I hadn’t taken an ibuprofen in three weeks.

I could feel an adjustment in my muscles, and after 6 weeks that is still going on. But now, even when I do not wear the brace, the knee feels much better. I’m continuing to test it by running on trails and by doing 400 meter runs, (I can’t call them sprints anymore) on the high school track. Last weekend I felt I was ready for the ultimate test, playing rugby. I played the second half of an open match. That meant that the players were in their 20s and 30s. The match was played in the rain on an artificial turf field. I can’t think of a tougher surface. While I was on the losing side, I felt like a winner on Sunday morning. Except for the bruises from tackles, my left leg felt so good that I went for a two mile run in the cold rain.

Jun 03, 2009
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Pain Free Knee
by: Scottie

Sorry about the pain. You knee is damaged and it sounds like the muscles, ligaments and tendons are not holding the upper leg and lower let in alignment. If your knee joint is 1 mm out of alignment it causes swelling, pain and damage. I am a runner who suffers from patellofemoral syndrome pain (runner’s knee) which is caused by misalignment of the upper and lower leg. My knee became so painful when I ran, walked distances and went up and down stairs that I quite running and hiking until I found a rehabilitative knee orthosis/brace that worked. What the orthosis/brace does (unlike all the others I tried) is align the thigh and lower leg under the patella so it can track in the tochlear (femoral) groove restoring normal motion of the knee joint. It relieved my pain and strengthened my muscles. After wearing the brace for a few months I really noticed a difference and I am only wearing it now during running and when I exercise.

Try doing the following. It is a physical therapy movement and if you notice a difference after performing it the orthosis/brace will work for you.
Sit down and do the following:
Place one hand about 2-3 inches above your knee on the side.
Place the other hand about 2-3 inches below your knee.
Press both hands toward the center of the knee.
Bend your knee up and down.
Get up and walk around and you should notice a difference. (The best test is to go up and downstairs.)

If this helps then the orthosis/brace will work for you. If not, try doing the same thing again placing your hands in the opposite positions. If this works then the orthosis/brace is for you.

The orthosis/brace is by a Company called In the Groove. It is light weight, comfortable to wear and can be worn under your clothing. It is not expensive either. I purchased it online. For more information go to the website: www.inthegroovebrace.com

I hope this helps you as much as it has helped me. I am back to my normal activates without pain.

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