Case Summary  |  Horrible knee pain to virtually no knee pain.

In November, 2008 I slipped and fell, landing on my right knee. At the time I really didn't think that I'd injured it terribly - it was bruised but I bruise easily . It was sore but not excessively so. It seemed to get better on it's own - I didn't see a Doctor about it initially. In early May of 2009 I damaged the same knee for a second time - again, I didn't think I'd injured it badly - my own clumsy fault banging it into the bar on my exercise machine. This time, however, the pain did not go away. I went to my doctor after suffering for about a month, waiting for the pain to recede. He examined it and sent me for an x-ray. He then told me that it appeared that there was little or no cartilage left in the kneecap. He prescribed an anti-inflammatory. He also suggested a treatment that involved injecting a thick liquid into the kneecap to replace the cartilage. I was hesitant about the treatment and decided to take the option of giving the knee more time to stop hurting on its own, although my Doctor didn't think it would. I ended up going back 2 weeks later and receiving the first of three injections, spread out over 3 months. By the third injection my knee was substantially better. It's been well over a year now and, knock on wood, the pain has stayed away. I have an almost normal degree of mobility in the knee. I think the treatment - I cannot remember what it was he used - worked wonders.