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[Voyager]

Hi,
Thank you for reading my thread. I'm trying to get some info about potential disqualifying knee problems which would cause a doctor to turn someone away from LL. I can't seem to get answers by asking the businesses directly because they always respond with “you need to do an in person consultation in order to ask medical questions" which I at least partially understand.

Essentially I was just diagnosed by an orthopedic doctor with something called “patella chondromalacia"–also called “runners knee"–in my right knee, which I guess means the cartilage between my knee and femur has become soft/damaged and is slowly breaking down over time. I was told that it is in the “early stages" and is not the same thing as arthritis. The doctor did not seem particularly concerned, said it was “fairly common and not that big of a deal" (her words) since it is in the early stages and I am still relatively young (I'm a 31 year old male). My symptoms include mild to sometimes moderate knee pain and a popping feeling when the knee is flexed.

I honestly would not feel comfortable running or playing sports in this condition, and currently walk with a slight limp. The symptoms began about two weeks ago when I kicked something really hard (I was working on an old boat with a rusted shut door), although the doctor suspects this simply aggravated what was already present, probably from years of skateboarding and falling hard on my knees on ramps.

Basically I'm wondering what types of knee issues would outright disqualify someone from LL (I'm exclusively interested in Precice Stryde, if that matters)–anything ranging from tendonitis to tendon tears/ligament tears, cartilage issues like mine, history of arthritis all the way to extreme examples like history of a total knee replacement procedure being done. I'm assuming someone who has had a total knee replacement would be disqualified because that is pretty gnarly, but then again I've read that TKR is one of the most successful procedures in all of medicine, with over a 95% success rate and many patients returning to sports after a knee replacement.

Has anyone on this forum had a consultation and discussed pre-existing knee problems?

Thank you again for reading, good luck to everyone on their LL journey.

[TheMagicalBlueEye]

That's a very good question.
I'm also interested in this as I had Osgood-Schlatter disease when I was a young teen and I still have a (non-painful) bump just bellow my knees.

[Scorpstar]

Excellent thread! I had a ligament tear (ACL) and have done a reconstruction surgery only to tear it again plus having an early onset of runners knee (I feel a pop when climbing down the stairs or running downhill) and would like to understand how will that limit my chances of getting a CLL. Aim is to get 5cm in both segments.

[Voyager]

I found a video on YouTube which has given me hope, for anyone interested. It's a case of a patient with a congenital leg length discrepancy and severe arthritis of the knee who underwent lengthening with the Precice nail and a subsequent total knee replacement surgery after the lengthening was done.



This brave woman was certainly dealing with complications far and above anything I'm personally dealing with, and most likely the majority of forum members on this website, although I won't presume to speak for anyone else.

In conclusion if you are worried about a personal history of knee issues, this should provide at least some level of reassurance that if necessary a TKR following LL is indeed possible and within the scope of traditional orthopedic surgery.

It makes a lot of sense now that I think about it, the typical patient looking at LL outside of the cosmetic context is probably seeing an orthopedic surgeon for some unfortunate pre-existing issue anyway and is not in “peak physical shape" to begin with, so to speak. These devices weren't invented for the able bodied in the first place. 

[Ghostfish]

Hi Voyager

I think you need to take care of knee problem first whether or not you will go ahead for cll.  Better to fix or at least improve your knee problem before cll. 

If you really want to do cll, I think you can do femurs without a problem. As for tibias, your condition could be a concern, since internal cll for tibias always has a risk for knee pain at least to a certain extent. If you do cll for tibias without fixing your current problem, you will always worry about your knee and blame or regret cll for tibias.

Good luck!