Training with arthuritus

[farming stock]

First actual post so hope it's in the right place.

Long story short; ten years ago, I ruptured my anterior and posterior knee ligaments during a game of rugby. Two minor and one major operations later I have not been able to run or play sports ever since, I am now 35 years old, overweight and have grade 4 arthuritus.

I have recently been to see a specialist (I'm UK based), I have no cartilidge left on the outer part of my knee and he discribed it as having bold tyres in the ice, sooner or later something is going to give and I'm going to be in trouble, he told me I had three options;

1,lose weight and take care of my knee, no long walks, minimal standing, no weights.
2, lose weight and under go an operation where they realign my leg to take pressure off the bone.
3, relocate to USA or Other country that can under go HGH injections into the knee.

I would like to stick with option one, although I'm not completely disabled I have constant mild to extreme pain, yet still work as I have a family and need to pay the bills and get on with life.

However as I'm overweight, walking upstairs gets me out of breath, walking down the road will make my knee swell up, and playing football with my children is a distant memory.

I have developed low testosterone , depression (both untreated) which I think is due to the weight gain and lack of drive or zest for life due to the inability to use my leg normally.

Sad story over, can you guys suggest any type of cardio activity that doesn't envolve legs, even swimming results in swelling, I go to the gym 4 times a week, but of course only train upper body, never do legs or cardio due to pain and haven't changed shape in years.

I know that amputies and people that have lost the use of their legs can still get ripped and have a great life so there is no excuse for me.

Any suggestions of how I can improve my way of life would be greatly appreciated.

[ghost14]

Get a knee brace, people ski in this. Try swimming freestyle, knees don't work much then, you can try with a knee brace. If not then only upper body, legs keeping a pullboy.
Or bicycle, if painful hand bicycle.
I have read a lot of good thing about efficiency of hgh combined with prp injections into the cartiladge, it works. But legally it is available only in US. There are also very expensive surgical treatments, taking cartiladge from one place and putting it behind a knee cap. A lot to explore.

[farming stock]

Thank you for the reply, I have tried pretty much every knee strap on the market but they make no difference, I have to pretty much wear one constantly when working or shopping (pretty much leaving the house) but I use it for more stability as I have a constant feeling of giving way.

I know what you mean about swimming, because I am the size I am I really need to use my legs for buoyancy or I just end up sinking, I have tried to place a float inbetween my legs but it just doesn't work!

Hopefully the injections will become available in the UK under the NHS as I'd be more than happy to trial them, but wouldn't fancy DIY treatment.

I'm kind of in catch22, I can't seem to lose weight due to low testosterone and lack of cardio or lower body exercise. Weight loss would take pressure off my knee and hopefully help with my low testosterone .

[Bio-Active]

How dose riding the bike do with the knees?

[Liftinlarge]

Hey man, sucky situation to be in. I had similar problem. No cartilage in the medial part of the joint. Was in agony as I was seriously obese. Specialist told me lose weight or suffer pretty much.

12 months later I lost 120lbs through much better nutrition, and upper body weights mostly, and a shit tonne of boxing. The more I dropped, the more I could do. Now I'm powerlifting, even squatting 400lbs and only have to ice it occasionally. Still require slightly longer warmups to get the fluid flowing, and winter it aches but I can do stuff again!

Good luck, and don't give up!

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[farming stock]

Thanks for the insperation, I went shopping the other day with my son, but forgot to put my knee strap on. Literally walking around for an hour resulted in hardly being able to drive back and a knee almost twice the size of my other leg.

I need to address this as its ruining/ruined my way of life. I have bought a century Bob XL punch stand (I've put 200kg of sand and topped up with water in it but still moves a lot and ideas) really need to sort this diet out and or get my testosterone sorted. Got a frigging cold and sore throat now, covered in spots, I'm sure my immune system is none existent!

Gonna try and get into the gym tomorrow and back onto a diet that I can maintain, I feel like it's 1 step forward 10 back...