The Left Knee Problem

[Ed Hurst]

Thanks folks. Here's some background. On the right knee, any further degradation is quite slow, unnoticeable. If it starts to hurt too much, just an ice pack or some other pain relief effort, and I'm back to normal. With the left knee, it has gotten steadily worse. When it starts to bother me, it takes a lot of rest to get back to some kind of normal, and that normal has shifted every time. I can ride for now, but even just going grocery shopping means putting on a heavy brace just to tolerate the situation. Even then, it may raise the background pain level for a day or two if I walk too long on it. Then, when the pain abates, it never quite goes back where it was before. Right now, I wear pain patches a lot, even when resting. This is why I believe it will end up being a knee replacement. Also, when it flares up, the top of my calf hurts, too.