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Has anyone had Synvisc injected in their knee?

Peter CarrollPeter Carroll
in General Training Discussions

I've been battling knee pain for 8 months or so.  It started as Patella Femoral Syndrome.  I think I have finally stretched that out.  But i still have pain in my knee joint.  MRI looked good (no tear or anything).  I'm coming to a point where I have to choose between exporatory surgery that the ortho thinks he will not find anything and getting a synvisc injection to 'lubricate' the joint to see if that helps.  I've had one anti-inflamatory injection in it and that helped for a few weeks, but i don't want to keep getting them.

 

Any opinions on the subject?

Thanks!

 

 

Comments

  • mgraffeomgraffeo
    Synvisc may or may not help, nearly impossible to tell without trying it. Have you tried glucosamine/chondroitin? Cortisone? I'd take the surgeon's advice and not do the exploratory surgery if he doesn't think it's likely to help. Good luck!
  • CarlCarl

    Peter-

    I operated with an Ortho doc for 10 years and loved it. We would try the Synvisc injections as well as Kenalog or some other form of anti inflam drug. It sounds like you may of some bone on bone issues since you are looking into this route. In all honesty it seemed like it worked for 1/4 of our arthritic knee population. Is your next option a total knee or do you have an area where a large portion of cartridge is missing? We also did several "Micro Fractures" for this diagnosis and again didn't see a huge improvement with this procedure. Just curious what else they offered.

    just read your comment again and the MRI was clean....hmmm???

  • Peter CarrollPeter Carroll
    @mike- Yep, tried glucosamine etc, had a cortisone shot. I'm just tired of being hurt. I'm hitting the Gym/weights hard though and that seems to be helping some.

    @Carl - I had some of my meniscus removed 15+ years ago. The MRI showed that my knee looked fine. I don't think I have bone/bone but i could have a bit, but it should be a small area. I had PFS fairly bad and in the last month i've managed to strech it out and that pain behind the knee cap is gone, I just have aching within the knee. Could be arthritis. I've been doing A LOT of knee/hip streching/strenthening stuff and that seems to be helping a fair amount. I seem to be able to bike for 20-30 min w/o much (like 1 or 2) pain. I'm going to try to do a 1 to 1 1/2 hr ride this weekend and see how that affects it.

    I'm just not sure if I should gain hope from the last months's gains (considering it was 6-7 months of no gains). And at what point shoud I try the synvisc. Not sure i want to inject stuff in my knee because i'm not sure of the long term consequences (i'm 39).

    I'm thinking I want to get another MRI since the pain is in a slightly different place and its been 6 or 7 months since the last one. Not sure if insurance will go for it though.

    @carl- On a side note- I see you are doing IM Cozumel... I'll be stopping there on the Friday before the race... I'll be on a cruise ship though. Nice to know there will be a ton of fit people around for the day I am there. ;-)

    Thanks!
  • cgres123cgres123
    @ Peter, Yep I had the injections and they worked for me. I had meniscus repair in 2004 on both knees. The ortho guy was good he just smoothed things out so no removal. Back then he suggested to me glucosamine/chondroitin as suggested by Mike above and the Doc asks me to this day if I still take it. I like that supplement as it works for me but it may take about 4 - 6 weeks to kick in.
    The injections worked too I dont have any complaints.
  • Michael JohnsonMichael Johnson
    Myself (Orthopedic Surgeon) use Synvisc regularly. With you patellofemoral syndrome could be a variety of ailments. Synvisc "could" help if you have cartilage changes at the patellofemoral joint that could include chondromalacia (softening/irregularity) of the cartilage or osteoarthritis changes. This could include noticing popping, creeking, grinding at the patella with flexion and extension. This implies cartilage changes that Synvisc could help.
  • Michael JohnsonMichael Johnson

    I should say I inject (not use) Synvisc. My knees are fine!

  • cyberspincyberspin
    I have bone on bone in my knee due to meniscus tear from bike accident. My first surgeon cleaned my tear a bit too much...I use synvisc and it helps tremendously. It's definitely worth trying before any surgery.
  • Peter CarrollPeter Carroll
    Thanks for the adivice everyone. I'll probably try to see how things go until after thanksgiving and then see about getting an injection.

    How long do the injections usually last? I know they say "up to 6 months".

  • jlahrensjlahrens

     i had orthovisc twice this year, jan and aug.  Last november i couldnt run.  Ortho said forget about imfl.  Some rehab some "ortholube" helped tremendously.  Just finished imfl last week and feel great.  Tbat being said i've heard its bit or miss.  I wont hesitate to get my next round in jan...

  • jbarre03jbarre03

     I suffered and battled through some knee pain last year, and my ortho gave me a PRP injections.  Wasn't able to run or ride for a couple weeks, but it helped.  My pain we generally only during training and would come and go during workouts.  Never lost any power really, just would hurt.  I don't think there are really any side effects, but I am not a doctor.  Don't believe it is on the list of banned/illegal treatments either, but someone can chime in on that.  

    Just my .02 and something to think about.

  • NigelNigel
    Peter,

    Sorry to hear you are having such trouble with your knee at 39. I have suffered left knee pain before and had to take over a year off hoping it would get better. I had injections in my knee with no or only slight success. What really helped me was trigger point therapy rollers. This may be a long shot but maybe worth a try if you haven't already? I found that all my knee pain was from extremely tight IT bands. I use the quad roller on my IT bands daily and my knee pain is gone and running again for the last 2 years with no problem! Before using the rollers my knee was so bad that walking down stairs caused severe pain. I have other friends and family that have had great success using these rollers. They are kind of expensive but worth every penny if you stick with it and use them everyday. They hurt like hell at first but after a while you get use to it. You can find them at: http://www.tptherapy.com and no I don't have any affiliation with them. I hope they work for you as well as they have worked for me and many other people I know.

    Nigel
  • new2703new2703
    Peter. I agree with Nigel. Try trigger point therapy first. Last year I went from couch to tri training and there were times my knees ached/ hurt. Solution for me was to dry needle the quads with emphasis on lateral quads.
  • Junior TerevaJunior Tereva
    Peter, I have used Synvisc the last 3 years and it's been great. Trigger point helps as well. Cheers!
  • sgthatchsgthatch
    Out of all of the post of those who use synvisc, I only saw one that talked about limitations of training following the injections. No running or cycling for ~2wks? Is that the standard? Thanks.
  • Peter CarrollPeter Carroll
    Scott,

    Sorry, i haven't gotten back to post here in a bit... I got my injection about 4 weeks ago. It seems to be helping, but I haven't done that much due to colds/holidays/family emergencies/food poisoning (been a bad last 3 weeks). My doc told me to probably take it easy for a couple days and then just do what I feel like. He said it takes 1-3 weeks to start working and everyone is different. I felt a little better after 10 days or so, after 3 weeks I felt good enough to run 3-4 miles every other day and bike hard on the other days. I had no pain. I really haven't pushed it yet though by increasing my mileage much. The plan is to get back on the OS bandwagon next week. But so far its probably 95% better. I feel twinges from time to time, but it did help

    I'll try to report back as I go through things so I/we have a record of how well and how long it worked for me (everyone is different). I have 2 IM this year (June and Sept), so I should be putting in some good work here in the next few months.

    Peter
  • samrittersamritter
    Sorry, I didn't see this until now.

    I've probably had the most Synvisc that you can have as when I first had it, the PA said that they had never done more than 3 series on anyone.

    The first series lasted the longest. The immediate effect of the last(3rd) time that I had it made me say NO MORE as my knee swelled up and I had a hard time driving my stick shift home from that last visit.(Painful and not fun working the clutch with the left leg.) My leg was swollen for about 3 days after the final injection. The first 2 series were mostly uneventful except for the one PA had to get the surgeon to do the injection because she couldn't get the needle into my joint space.
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