In reply to phil kujawa:
Hi Phil,
I have one of them braces in my cupboard at home. Hated it and brought zero comfort for me. It was uncomfortable to wear for anything including brisk walks and it didnt aleviate the pain at all.
I backed off after this tbh. I just gave up for 6mths and put up with the pain. It was my consultant who chased me and asked why i hadnt been in for the follow up to discuss the benefits of the brace and the further op. I ended up being tag teamed by two consultants and promised the following
1) I can have a new knee if i want
2) They can do a Distal Femoral Osteotomy
3) If option 2 doesnt work then they can revert to option 1 and it will be much easier.
Their figures were as follows
75% chance of being able to return to sport (I played football but all i wanted was to be able to jog a bit and climb a bit)
25% chance of it being less painfull but not able to do sport
I took the offer and had the op in Mid December. My full rupture (Not a tear like some people call it) of the patella tendon was 10x worse and took much more to recover from. This was uncomfortable but i managed to get walking within a few weeks, by 6wks i was driving and by May i went to font (Watching, not climbing). At 6mths they signed me off that it had healed to an acceptable level and i must say that once the healing was over, the knee pain dissapeared. To the point if they asked me if i wanted it on the other knee (Since it snapped the arthritic pain dissapeared when the rebuilt it) i would take it. I am now slowly building up running, i can have a kick about with my son and i go climbing 1-2 x per week and the leg actually feel better after climbing.
Are you knock kneed or bow legged?
This guy is one of the best
http://www.cumbriankneeclinic.co.uk/index.html