[villages07]

I know one person who went the Synvisc route. Helped him a lot at first, less as time went on and he needed the injections more frequently. It doesn't fix anything, just mitigates pain.

My knee was too far gone for cortisone, synvisc, or arthroscopic cleanup so I went directly to total knee replacement. For me, it was at least 4-6 weeks of real challenge followed by another 2 months of continued rehab. The first 4 weeks are pain, recovery from surgery, difficulty sleeping, and the initial physical therapy. 3 months after surgery I was cleared for everything (golf, biking, swimming, etc) but had to hold off on tennis till my leg got stronger. But, my knee was particularly bad. Now, I can do all my activities.

As a side note, I had right shoulder rotator cuff repair surgery 3 months after the knee replacement... that was far, far worse for pain, discomfort, and rehab/recovery. Relatively speaking, the knee was a piece of cake. Someday, I may have to get the other knee replaced and won't hesitate to do so.

From what I've heard, the recovery time and pain for arthroscopic surgery isn't that much less than knee replacement and you may just be putting off the inevitable.

Other pain management options are natural supplements ... glocosamine, celedrin; or anti-inflammatory like ibuprofen; or a TENS nerve stimulator device.

However, wait til you go back to your Canadian exile next spring to do any surgery!!! You don't want to spend your bubble time doing rehab.