Painful knees and apos therapy

I assume you've spoken to your GP?

No not yet.

Just wanted to see what others have done.

First port of call is your GP and see what help he can give you before you think about spending money on therapies.

I have no doubt it will be painkillers at first until it's unbearable.

I had a bout of painful knees a couple of years ago. I was wearing Fitf-flops all the time because I thought they were so comfortable. Winter came, I went back to my boots, the painful knees disappeared!
Maybe go to a podiatrist and check whether your foot formation has altered and whether a shaped insole would help?

Who knows? You may have osteoarthritis. You may need knee replacement. Until a medic looks at them formally you're just guessing. Get yourself to the GP before doing anything that may be completely unnecessary like selling your house.

I need to sell my house anyway. It's a four storey one and much too big for me. Best do it while I can. I don't know about your doctors but here they start off slowly. It probably is OA and yes maybe a knee replacement eventually.
All I wanted to know was had anyone tried Apos Therapy and is it worth it.

Hi amt
I've had a quick Google and Apos therapy does look quite interesting - the idea of re-training the muscles to put less stress in the joints makes sense.
However it does say it treats osteo-arthritis.
So you need a proper diagnosis first.
If it is OA and you don't want to just take painkillers, ask to see a physiotherapist who could suggest exercises to strengthen the musculature around your joints.

Hi, just to say I have two friends who have both tried Apos therapy, and both of them said it improved the pain in their knees. One was a bit more successful than the other, but I've no idea why. They both still get painful knees, but nothing like as bad as before the therapy. Both of them had OA. Hope that helps.

Thanks scarfaceace. That's the sort of thing I was asking for. Really difficult to get an appointment with a doctor in my surgery. Unless you say it's urgent you can wait weeks and months if it's a particular doctor. Hardly think OA is urgent.

It gets urgent!! Bone on bone is excruciating! Do something about it!

Make the appointment. You will then see a doctor eventually instead of never.

Worth reading

am101 are you new? I had an excruciatingly painful knee after termporarily moving to a house with three stroreys and steep stairs. I didn't visit my doctor as I knew it would just be pain relief and I used RICE, common sense and another alternative therapy. The pain gradually reduced and is gone 95% of the time. Yes, I have OA. Worth remembering the 'itis' bit means inflammation.

Treat the inflammation by RICE and yes, orthopedic shoes make sense.

Thanks for the link anya - interesting. The idea of treating joint pain by reducing load on the joint and strengthening muscles and surgery being a last resort is appealing!
Sorry but what's RICE? and what alternative therapy did you use, if you don't mind my asking?

Having had a knee op I think RICE is Rest Ice Compression Elevation. Very useful in sports injuries.

I did all the muscle strengthening exercises too but it wasn't called 'apos' therapy just muscle strengthening exercises!! Still ended up with a new knee...

Jane10 in the paper Anya posted, the researchers found that the participants who undertook the Apos therapy had a significantly lower rate of TKR than those who didn't.
Obviously surgery is still necessary and the preferred option for some people, but in the earlier stages of OA preventive measures possibly delay the need for surgery.
I think that Apos therapy is more than just muscle strengthening. It's also about changing gait to reduce stresses on the joint.
How is your new knee doing?

I had a very painful knee that kept me awake at night. Now that I am four and half stone lighter it isn't so painful only a bit after golf. This of course doesn't apply to everyone especially if OA has taken up residence but the knees do take the brunt of our weight.

A while back I had painful knees and a friend recommended Flaxseed Oil and that helped a lot. I take two 1000mg a day - Good Luck with your knees and selling your house.

Oh, should have added that I get them from Holland and Barrett.

Thanks Ann60 you are spot in with RICE.

Wow Teetime that's an impressive weight loss. Well done.

My doctor sent me to physio for knee excercises to strengthen my knees and try to stop them falling inward. So I got a course of knee excercises plus ones for strengthening my falling arches and shoe inserts (which weren't a patch on Scholl ones). It helped for a while and I hope will help recovery after I get my first new knee - on Monday