I finally decided to go with Physician Rehab on Rt 44 at Freedom Plaza, a little east past the Villages Brownwood Hotel (PHY Reh have a few other locations ). I previously had a total right knee replacement by Dr Nguyen several years ago and it was very successful but didn't really want to go through another surgery if I could avoid it. Dr Berger at Phy Rehab recommended a 5 shot series of Synvisc >GenVisc850 which I completed on Tuesday. Each week I got 1/2 hr of pt for my knee, the shot then ice, all 100% covered by Medicare and my AARP Gap insurance. The PT was good and I think useful; unfortunately, I'm not a really PT person so the only time I did the exercises was at the office or 1 or 2 times at home. The shots were easy and for the most part painless. The Dr. used a Florascope machine (?) to determine where the shots would go and also used it to view where the shots/gell actually went (with a dye). The Dr. took his time explaining what he was doing at each step in the injection and used the Florascope machine extensively to first determine where to place the needle on my knee at the correct angle and where the needle actually went when he put it in. Dye was used also to help determine where the gel actually went. I don't think he couldn't have done anything more to inject the gell where he wanted it. He indicated 5 Shots were determined by my insurance and this was good since if one of the gel injections didn't quite go into the right spot there were 4 more shot to get it into the right area and like I mentioned before I'm sure he couldn't have done any more to insure the shots were placed where he wanted them.
Now for the actual results. After the 2nd shot, I didn't limp any longer and was able to go up and down the hills on the executive golf courses that were a real issue before the shots. After the 3rd shot, I tried Pickle Ball and that was a complete failure. We dance a lot and dancing was ok (probably because I can control what I do and in PB the movements are much faster and someone else is determining where I have to move to. After the 4th Shot, I could play a little PB at a beginner level and at least try to move after the ball at the adv beginner level. After the 5th shot, I was able to play PB at the advanced beginner level but really can't move after the ball the way I did before my knee injury.
So the bottom line is my knee isn't as good as I would like but is better than it was before the shot and of course, don't know how long the improvement will last for at this point. The Dr. claims there could be an improvement in the next few weeks but time will tell. So far I'm not sorry I tried them since the shots and PT helped and they were really easy and painless to have done. Time will tell if I go a surgery route later. I
Hope I've helped someone make a decision.
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