Torn cartilage in knee causing swelling?

Question

Please help - my mom has torn cartilage on the inside of in her knees and really bad arthritis. Would that cause both her legs to swell? I have been working in orthopaedics for years, but I just don't know this one. Her blood pressure medicine may be causing it, but the orthopaedic doctor didn't think so. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

I have both of the same problems and what they recomded for me was advil but check with her dr first to make sure that it does not intereact with any of her med's that she is already on

And ice will help with the swelling

And she still needs to get some excercise and I know that it is painful but for arthritis you need to keep the joints moving and strong and this over time will help with pain and moblity

One of the best ways to get the excercise with out causing pain and adding to the injury is to use a therapy pool

They have them in most cities in rehab hospatils they usally will rent out time to the public and these pools are heated to bath water temp and they have gradule stairs that are no more them three inches high and the have bars in the water to hang on to and the excercise area starts at about three feet and goes to five feet. There are plenty of exercises that you can do in the water that you can not do on the land and you have no fear of falling and for people that can not even do any stairs you can get into these pools with a wheel chair like chair make for the water and they will have them.

It is not just the exercise that helps it is the warmth and because the same people go all the time it becomes a gatthering of friends and in most cases insurance will cover it if the dr recomends it but if it does not it should not cost that much where i live it cost $4 each time and to get the full benifit i go twice a week

And try to keep the legs up when sitting but even though it is painful keep them moving or she will lose the molbity she has

Answer 2

Maybe because of both the torn cartilage and the arthritis she is having swelling. You tend to walk differently when you have pain in knees or feet and such, so that may be putting more stress on the area and helping to cause the swelling.

I doubt that the blood pressure medication is the cause of swelling in her knees. I take blood pressure medication and if I have any swelling its usually in my feet, ankles.

It makes more sense that its being caused by both the tears and the arthritis together.

I hope she gets better.

Answer 3

She could be having a flare up of the arthritis or may have injured herself more without realizing it. Swelling means there's something going on in the area that wasn't there before. She should probably see a rhumatologist to see if he can help.

Hope she feels better soon.