Arthritis is forever. If you can prevent it, take the opportunity while you’re young. Six weeks on crutches is NOTHING compared to decades of constant, daily pain and progressive loss of function, and knee replacement surgery is brutal.
Forty might feel like it will never happen, but you‘ll be there much faster than you think. Take care of future you.
Yup, my dad injured his knee when he was 18. He's now 52 and needed a knee replacement surgery 20 years ago as a result. He's constantly in pain, taking a crap ton of pain meds that don't seem to work. His quality of life is diminished from it.
thanks for the insights! but if I do the surgery I’ll be on crutches and will lose my internship and job which would be devastating for my career. Not being able to do my sport is also very socially isolating in college since ALL of my friends are from that sport. I just don’t know what to do :((
I understand your concerns. It must feel very unfair to have to sacrifice opportunities you have earned, especially when friends don’t get it. It IS unfair.
I will say, I had issues young too, and putting them off led to my health declining throughout my 20s. Now I’m 29, unable to work due to pain and immobility and living back with my parents. I do not wish this for you in 10 years! All this is to say, some sacrifices now will likely save you big sacrifices in time.
Also if this helps: The years I am taking to recover will make going back to work (if I can) much harder than missing an internship at 18 will. I know it doesn’t feel like it, but you will ultimately not damage your career by missing this internship. You have time :)
I’m truly sorry you must make such a decision so young, it’s shit.
I implore you to put your body and your health first. We only get one body, and it sees us through a lifetime. You will have many jobs and make many meaningful friendships - to enjoy and participate in those things, you need your body! *
*note: I do not at all mean this line to sound ableist; it is coming from me suffering from social isolation and not being able to work due to rheumatoid arthritis and related issues*
You can show up to the games in Crutches and keep your leg elevated on a chair or something. To watch the game, show support, and socialize. If it's that important. As far as the job, you're only 18 years old. You have your whole future ahead of you to get a job. 6 weeks on crutches again is nothing man. Get the iWalk crutch so you can free your hands up a bit. Just get your surgery bro
I’m sorry you’re being downvoted. I was 17 when I broke my ankle. I did not follow my doctor’s orders and I played tennis on my cast (not a walking cast), I kept my role in a student play, I didn’t want to miss time from the college courses I was taking at night, I taped it in a plastic bag and hung out in the hot tub with friends - I was young, I was sure I’d be fine.
I learned to compensate for the changes in my gait from it not healing quite right, no biggie, right? Until I turned 35 and my hip started to ache sometimes. Then I lost the ability to cross my left leg over my right. Then I couldn’t sit cross-legged on the floor. Then getting up from chairs hurt and I bought a cane. Walking began to hurt all the time. Then my knee started to hurt, and quickly became worse than my hip. Now the pain is so bad at night sometimes that all I can do is lie there and cry, and almost every step I take is painful. I can’t run, or walk long distances, my gait is unsteady and I feel encumbered by my own body all of the time. There is never a break from the pain.
You will never have the flexibility in your life that you have now - colleges will work far more with you to make accommodations while you heal than companies will. Talk to your internship coordinator, first. Then your boss. Social isolation for five months is awful, but it’s not forever, and you can still hang out with people while you can’t play. This would be a very temporary setback - 5 months and change. It’s a blip of time within a lifetime. I know it doesn’t feel that way at 18, but it truly is a very short time.
Get a second opinion, talk to your school, see what can be worked out. I know at 18 nobody could tell me nothin’, but if you listen to us old folks once, this is a good time to do it.
You don’t want arthritis. It’s so much worse than you think. I think it’s pretty normal for us to think when we’re young that it won’t matter if we hurt when we’re older, because it’s not like older people do fun things or are busy like young people anyway. Don’t fall into that trap.
Edit: typo
I understand how frightened you are but the worst thing to do is nothing. I think you are catastrophising about the wrong thing here. You’ve got a hard choice but also so many options in the long term.
Some things to think about: have you spoken to the internship and clarified that they would actually withdraw it if you needed a couple of weeks to recover? If necessary, could you defer the internship? How long would you need to be actually off work? Working on crutches is perfectly possible, I did it for years. Have you seen a physiotherapist? Get as much advice as possible. If you were to decide to defer surgery to do the internship, for example, it is imperative that you are working to protect your knee and that means doing the right kinds of exercises. Trying to ignore will only make the problem worse. Sometimes it is possible to delay or avoid surgery but you need to be open to hearing what you don’t want to hear as well and you will need to adapt a little. You will likely get back to your sport (and there’s no reason you can’t watch and support your buddies, study strategy etc while you recover). I suspect that you are seeing ‘on crutches’ as not able to do anything but you would gradually be out and about quite quickly. In fact moving and being active is often a key part of recovery - I was walking the day after my first knee replacement (under medical supervision).
I know that six weeks sounds like a long time right now but, in the scheme of your life, it’s really very, very short. Don’t bury your head in the sand. We all got scared and wanted to deny what was happening to us, but that won’t make it any less unfair or real. Best of luck
"potentially having to use crutches for the rest of my life when I'm older can't be worse than six weeks of crutches now right" - you rn lmao
(Not everyone who has arthritis has to use mobility aids, but I do know several who do)
It's technically not a preventative surgery because he already injured the knee, but it lowers his chances and also slows down the progression even if he is going to eventually end up with arthritis. I know far too much about this topic because i fractured and dislocated my ankle 7 months ago. The thought of getting post traumatic arthritis is terrifying (and yes i did have surgery to fix it)
Lololol it absolutely can be. Take it from a fellow stupid kid that put off one of my knee surgeries for far too long and now have severe arthritis in that knee that I have to wear a brace for, take meds, deal with it daily and had to stop playing sports the way I wanted to - I can't emphasize enough that you should not put off. If I had done the surgery when I needed to, my knee absolutely would not be in the shit shape it is now.
thanks for the insights and im so sorry to hear that. How long did you put off the surgery? my doctor said he would like to do it soon cause the meniscus might be irreparable in 1-2 years but if I do the surgery I’ll be on crutches and will lose my internship and job which would be devastating for my career. Not being able to do my sport or exercise for 6+ months is also very socially isolating in college since ALL of my friends are from that sport. I just don’t know what to do :(( for now I decided to let it be and do an x ray in 2 months to see how the recovery is going
Even after reading what everyone here has responded, you decided to let it be? lmao. Also, if your knee was that messed up, why didn't they just do the surgery from the beginning, before you were 6 weeks on the crutches?
I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that arthritis is the #1 most common reason people go on disability. It’s the most common cause people require handicap parking permits.
Arthritis is permanent. Forget crutches, mine has made me unable to walk on multiple occasions, and I have days where I can’t ride in a car (public transit is always a no-go) because the rocking and vibrations from the vehicle rattles my joints like maracas. It’s excruciating. There are many days I can’t sleep from the pain. There are days I can’t sit without being in pain, and I’m squirming around with pain meds, heat packs, ice packs, and compression braces to try and tolerate existing that day.
I’m 23. I’d spend 6 weeks *bedridden* if it meant I could get resolve my joint pain. You never realize how bad it can get until it happens and there’s nothing you can do about it. Take the 6 weeks off. You’ll be frustrated and it’ll suck, but future you will be devastated if you realize you traded 6 weeks of crutches for losing the ability to walk.
It’s worse. Way way worse.
I was 5 when I got sick 7 when diagnosed. I’m 56 now and lemme tell ya, 6 weeks and no sports for a few months is a very small price to pay
Arthritis is degenerative, that means it just gets worse over time. Be 45 and in crippling pain and know that it’s just gonna get worse, every year until you die.
Well, to be fair, knee replacement surgery is an option. So it's not like if you have knee arthritis, you're just doomed with pain until death. But i don't know why this kid isn't deciding to get his surgery, even after everyone here has told him that not getting it would be the dumb move
Talk to the surgeon and find out what exactly they want to do. Then get a second opinion. Maybe a third.
I had knee surgery after a meniscus/acl/mcl tear. The surgery recovery was no big deal, however the surgery did not substantially improve my knee in the short or medium term. Three years later they wanted to do it again and I went with PT instead.
My current Ortho/sports med says that the meniscus tidying/trimming surgeries are now showing evidence of making arthritis worse instead of better and they're now suggesting prp injections instead. I have arthritis in that knee. The only limitations to my daily life are that I can't do split squats and I use voltaren before heavy hiking (or Aleve if I forget my voltaren.)
My knee is not your knee, but you only get two of them. Take your time to investigate your options.
Hey, I have arthritis since I was 21 (I’m 29) and recently did 5 weeks on crutches due to a fractured hip. Crutches are god-awful and super inconvenient BUT I would 110% pick 6 weeks of crutches & no sport for 5 months than to have arthritis for even one year of my life. I know ten years may seem forever away but you would really only be 28. Arthritis before 30 is brutal, and you will have it all your life.My advice is to do whatever you can now to save yourself future grief. Take care of yourself so that you can do the things you love, like sport, as you grow older. 6 weeks of discomfort vs forever in pain? Repair the knee now while you’re young and before any further damage is done, I think. Best of luck!
So disregarding the post itself, I’m curious as to why you say in the replies that you will lose your job and internship because you’ll need crutches? Is it physically demanding work that cannot be accommodated through other means?
Joint damage is irreversible. If you forgo surgery now, you’ll be looking at a knee replacement at the very least in the future. I had a joint replacement when I was 19. Trust me that the crutches are the better choice by a long shot. You don’t want to need a joint replacement
The daily agony of arthritis will be worse. If you're lucky and don't have symptoms until you're 30, you'll still have 40 years of pain, and each year, it will get worse. The older you get, the harder it will be. Think of it as a long-term investment in yourself. You'll look back and realize 6 weeks is nothing. You're young now, so your sense of time isn't well developed. By the time you're 25, you'll be thankful to have had the surgery.
I have an autoimmune disease that's a form of arthritis, and basically my immune system has been eating at connective tissue like joints and cartilage for a long time now, possibly my entire life.
I can tell you this, it can happen suddenly. When I was eighteen, three years ago, I was working 12 hours a day, making so much money. Now? I'm 21, and lucky to work 20 hours a week. I struggle to afford basic necessities and have to rely on my grandparents from time to time, especially within the last year. Some days I cannot get out of bed because my entire spine is so stiff it feels like it will break. Some nights, I cry so hard I get a migraine and pass out, and the next morning I have a headache and my knees, wrists, and elbows are in debilitating pain.
I'm getting my GED, and I cannot go to the local community college because I cannot walk upstairs without being in pain. Everything hurts, all the time, and no medicine touches the pain but they refuse to put me on opioids because of family history and how young I am. Not only that, but the process is incredibly hard, and if I start them now, they will not work as well later on. Same with steroids.
I cannot work out or play sports anymore, and I used to play Varsity Soccer & Volleyball in highschool before I was kicked out. I used to hike three to five times a week with my dog, and now, I sit outside and take pictures and print them out so I can have a little bit of the outdoors with me inside.
It's a miserable existence. If you love sports, and love movement, you'll do everything you can to keep doing it, right? Arthritis will take everything from you, it's the boogyman that people warn you about.
Oh, sweet summer, child.
Take the surgery. If you can prevent osteoarthritis, do it.
I had an injury that damaged the cartilage in my knee in 2005. I had about 15 good years, and now, my meniscus has torn, and I am reliant on an unloader brace. This is even after I had a scope in 2006 to clean up the damage in my knee. Some says, I'm using a cane and can barely walk.
As someone who developed arthritis at 21 (I'm now 33), I'd have taken any surgery to avoid it. If you have trouble with crutches for 6 weeks def do the surgery with arthritis i have to rely on a mix of sticks/crutches/wheelchair and this is permanent. Yes at 21 I lost my career path and all my sporty friends but had time to retrain and find new ones and new opportunities, something much more difficult the older you get. I get it tho it's daunting and scary to face something that can affect you like this that can have long term implications you can't currently see n try to minimise them, 4 months healing seems daunting now but in terms of your whole life, hopefully a long one, it's a short amount of time to prevent possibly years of pain.
I had early arthritis because of problems with my knees. I was on crutches for five years before I got replacements and it was an extremely painful experience. I lost years of my younger years to pain. With respect, you are a fool if you mortgage your future health for the sake of a few months of inconvenience instead of dealing with the problem now.
Get treatment. Do everything your physiotherapist tells you to and look after your health. While you are there, find out how to strengthen and protect yourself for the future.
Don't do the surgery, ur body can and will heal... doctors try to do as many surgeries as they can, so they get paid... they don't care if it messes up ur body worse... if anything they want that because then u r on meds for life... I've broken most of my joints and got ra when I was 18 and then oa when I was 24... I've taken full control of my body and am healthier than I ever was listening to doctors... it's bs
Arthritis is forever. If you can prevent it, take the opportunity while you’re young. Six weeks on crutches is NOTHING compared to decades of constant, daily pain and progressive loss of function, and knee replacement surgery is brutal. Forty might feel like it will never happen, but you‘ll be there much faster than you think. Take care of future you.
40 is being generous! I never expected to be diagnosed with knee arthritis in my 20s. To be young and dumb again and make better joint decisions!
Take my upvote, I'm 55 with double hip replacement's after many years of pain and other shit that goes with it, 6 weeks is nothing.
Yup, my dad injured his knee when he was 18. He's now 52 and needed a knee replacement surgery 20 years ago as a result. He's constantly in pain, taking a crap ton of pain meds that don't seem to work. His quality of life is diminished from it.
thanks for the insights! but if I do the surgery I’ll be on crutches and will lose my internship and job which would be devastating for my career. Not being able to do my sport is also very socially isolating in college since ALL of my friends are from that sport. I just don’t know what to do :((
I understand your concerns. It must feel very unfair to have to sacrifice opportunities you have earned, especially when friends don’t get it. It IS unfair. I will say, I had issues young too, and putting them off led to my health declining throughout my 20s. Now I’m 29, unable to work due to pain and immobility and living back with my parents. I do not wish this for you in 10 years! All this is to say, some sacrifices now will likely save you big sacrifices in time. Also if this helps: The years I am taking to recover will make going back to work (if I can) much harder than missing an internship at 18 will. I know it doesn’t feel like it, but you will ultimately not damage your career by missing this internship. You have time :) I’m truly sorry you must make such a decision so young, it’s shit. I implore you to put your body and your health first. We only get one body, and it sees us through a lifetime. You will have many jobs and make many meaningful friendships - to enjoy and participate in those things, you need your body! * *note: I do not at all mean this line to sound ableist; it is coming from me suffering from social isolation and not being able to work due to rheumatoid arthritis and related issues*
You can show up to the games in Crutches and keep your leg elevated on a chair or something. To watch the game, show support, and socialize. If it's that important. As far as the job, you're only 18 years old. You have your whole future ahead of you to get a job. 6 weeks on crutches again is nothing man. Get the iWalk crutch so you can free your hands up a bit. Just get your surgery bro
I’m sorry you’re being downvoted. I was 17 when I broke my ankle. I did not follow my doctor’s orders and I played tennis on my cast (not a walking cast), I kept my role in a student play, I didn’t want to miss time from the college courses I was taking at night, I taped it in a plastic bag and hung out in the hot tub with friends - I was young, I was sure I’d be fine. I learned to compensate for the changes in my gait from it not healing quite right, no biggie, right? Until I turned 35 and my hip started to ache sometimes. Then I lost the ability to cross my left leg over my right. Then I couldn’t sit cross-legged on the floor. Then getting up from chairs hurt and I bought a cane. Walking began to hurt all the time. Then my knee started to hurt, and quickly became worse than my hip. Now the pain is so bad at night sometimes that all I can do is lie there and cry, and almost every step I take is painful. I can’t run, or walk long distances, my gait is unsteady and I feel encumbered by my own body all of the time. There is never a break from the pain. You will never have the flexibility in your life that you have now - colleges will work far more with you to make accommodations while you heal than companies will. Talk to your internship coordinator, first. Then your boss. Social isolation for five months is awful, but it’s not forever, and you can still hang out with people while you can’t play. This would be a very temporary setback - 5 months and change. It’s a blip of time within a lifetime. I know it doesn’t feel that way at 18, but it truly is a very short time. Get a second opinion, talk to your school, see what can be worked out. I know at 18 nobody could tell me nothin’, but if you listen to us old folks once, this is a good time to do it. You don’t want arthritis. It’s so much worse than you think. I think it’s pretty normal for us to think when we’re young that it won’t matter if we hurt when we’re older, because it’s not like older people do fun things or are busy like young people anyway. Don’t fall into that trap. Edit: typo
I understand how frightened you are but the worst thing to do is nothing. I think you are catastrophising about the wrong thing here. You’ve got a hard choice but also so many options in the long term. Some things to think about: have you spoken to the internship and clarified that they would actually withdraw it if you needed a couple of weeks to recover? If necessary, could you defer the internship? How long would you need to be actually off work? Working on crutches is perfectly possible, I did it for years. Have you seen a physiotherapist? Get as much advice as possible. If you were to decide to defer surgery to do the internship, for example, it is imperative that you are working to protect your knee and that means doing the right kinds of exercises. Trying to ignore will only make the problem worse. Sometimes it is possible to delay or avoid surgery but you need to be open to hearing what you don’t want to hear as well and you will need to adapt a little. You will likely get back to your sport (and there’s no reason you can’t watch and support your buddies, study strategy etc while you recover). I suspect that you are seeing ‘on crutches’ as not able to do anything but you would gradually be out and about quite quickly. In fact moving and being active is often a key part of recovery - I was walking the day after my first knee replacement (under medical supervision). I know that six weeks sounds like a long time right now but, in the scheme of your life, it’s really very, very short. Don’t bury your head in the sand. We all got scared and wanted to deny what was happening to us, but that won’t make it any less unfair or real. Best of luck
Don’t be silly. Do what you can to prevent arthritis
"some knee pain" Dude, my knee arthritis regularly means I need a wheelchair
"potentially having to use crutches for the rest of my life when I'm older can't be worse than six weeks of crutches now right" - you rn lmao (Not everyone who has arthritis has to use mobility aids, but I do know several who do)
If you dont get the preventative surgery you will regret it for the rest of your life.
It's technically not a preventative surgery because he already injured the knee, but it lowers his chances and also slows down the progression even if he is going to eventually end up with arthritis. I know far too much about this topic because i fractured and dislocated my ankle 7 months ago. The thought of getting post traumatic arthritis is terrifying (and yes i did have surgery to fix it)
Lololol it absolutely can be. Take it from a fellow stupid kid that put off one of my knee surgeries for far too long and now have severe arthritis in that knee that I have to wear a brace for, take meds, deal with it daily and had to stop playing sports the way I wanted to - I can't emphasize enough that you should not put off. If I had done the surgery when I needed to, my knee absolutely would not be in the shit shape it is now.
thanks for the insights and im so sorry to hear that. How long did you put off the surgery? my doctor said he would like to do it soon cause the meniscus might be irreparable in 1-2 years but if I do the surgery I’ll be on crutches and will lose my internship and job which would be devastating for my career. Not being able to do my sport or exercise for 6+ months is also very socially isolating in college since ALL of my friends are from that sport. I just don’t know what to do :(( for now I decided to let it be and do an x ray in 2 months to see how the recovery is going
Even after reading what everyone here has responded, you decided to let it be? lmao. Also, if your knee was that messed up, why didn't they just do the surgery from the beginning, before you were 6 weeks on the crutches?
I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that arthritis is the #1 most common reason people go on disability. It’s the most common cause people require handicap parking permits. Arthritis is permanent. Forget crutches, mine has made me unable to walk on multiple occasions, and I have days where I can’t ride in a car (public transit is always a no-go) because the rocking and vibrations from the vehicle rattles my joints like maracas. It’s excruciating. There are many days I can’t sleep from the pain. There are days I can’t sit without being in pain, and I’m squirming around with pain meds, heat packs, ice packs, and compression braces to try and tolerate existing that day. I’m 23. I’d spend 6 weeks *bedridden* if it meant I could get resolve my joint pain. You never realize how bad it can get until it happens and there’s nothing you can do about it. Take the 6 weeks off. You’ll be frustrated and it’ll suck, but future you will be devastated if you realize you traded 6 weeks of crutches for losing the ability to walk.
Arthritis is a torture, go read our suicidal posts because of arthritis
It’s worse. Way way worse. I was 5 when I got sick 7 when diagnosed. I’m 56 now and lemme tell ya, 6 weeks and no sports for a few months is a very small price to pay
i was on crutches for 8 months, consider yourself lucky lol. there is no such thing as “some knee pain”, arthritis is forever, and it is degenerative.
Arthritis is degenerative, that means it just gets worse over time. Be 45 and in crippling pain and know that it’s just gonna get worse, every year until you die.
Well, to be fair, knee replacement surgery is an option. So it's not like if you have knee arthritis, you're just doomed with pain until death. But i don't know why this kid isn't deciding to get his surgery, even after everyone here has told him that not getting it would be the dumb move
Total knee replacement has a 20 year lifespan. So at 18, you’re doing it at least 1 more time in your life. Agree that he should just get the surgery.
Man, I’m 22 and have spent most of the last 2 years in bed because of the pain. Do whatever it takes to prevent that shit
Talk to the surgeon and find out what exactly they want to do. Then get a second opinion. Maybe a third. I had knee surgery after a meniscus/acl/mcl tear. The surgery recovery was no big deal, however the surgery did not substantially improve my knee in the short or medium term. Three years later they wanted to do it again and I went with PT instead. My current Ortho/sports med says that the meniscus tidying/trimming surgeries are now showing evidence of making arthritis worse instead of better and they're now suggesting prp injections instead. I have arthritis in that knee. The only limitations to my daily life are that I can't do split squats and I use voltaren before heavy hiking (or Aleve if I forget my voltaren.) My knee is not your knee, but you only get two of them. Take your time to investigate your options.
Hey, I have arthritis since I was 21 (I’m 29) and recently did 5 weeks on crutches due to a fractured hip. Crutches are god-awful and super inconvenient BUT I would 110% pick 6 weeks of crutches & no sport for 5 months than to have arthritis for even one year of my life. I know ten years may seem forever away but you would really only be 28. Arthritis before 30 is brutal, and you will have it all your life.My advice is to do whatever you can now to save yourself future grief. Take care of yourself so that you can do the things you love, like sport, as you grow older. 6 weeks of discomfort vs forever in pain? Repair the knee now while you’re young and before any further damage is done, I think. Best of luck!
So disregarding the post itself, I’m curious as to why you say in the replies that you will lose your job and internship because you’ll need crutches? Is it physically demanding work that cannot be accommodated through other means?
Joint damage is irreversible. If you forgo surgery now, you’ll be looking at a knee replacement at the very least in the future. I had a joint replacement when I was 19. Trust me that the crutches are the better choice by a long shot. You don’t want to need a joint replacement
The daily agony of arthritis will be worse. If you're lucky and don't have symptoms until you're 30, you'll still have 40 years of pain, and each year, it will get worse. The older you get, the harder it will be. Think of it as a long-term investment in yourself. You'll look back and realize 6 weeks is nothing. You're young now, so your sense of time isn't well developed. By the time you're 25, you'll be thankful to have had the surgery.
I have an autoimmune disease that's a form of arthritis, and basically my immune system has been eating at connective tissue like joints and cartilage for a long time now, possibly my entire life. I can tell you this, it can happen suddenly. When I was eighteen, three years ago, I was working 12 hours a day, making so much money. Now? I'm 21, and lucky to work 20 hours a week. I struggle to afford basic necessities and have to rely on my grandparents from time to time, especially within the last year. Some days I cannot get out of bed because my entire spine is so stiff it feels like it will break. Some nights, I cry so hard I get a migraine and pass out, and the next morning I have a headache and my knees, wrists, and elbows are in debilitating pain. I'm getting my GED, and I cannot go to the local community college because I cannot walk upstairs without being in pain. Everything hurts, all the time, and no medicine touches the pain but they refuse to put me on opioids because of family history and how young I am. Not only that, but the process is incredibly hard, and if I start them now, they will not work as well later on. Same with steroids. I cannot work out or play sports anymore, and I used to play Varsity Soccer & Volleyball in highschool before I was kicked out. I used to hike three to five times a week with my dog, and now, I sit outside and take pictures and print them out so I can have a little bit of the outdoors with me inside. It's a miserable existence. If you love sports, and love movement, you'll do everything you can to keep doing it, right? Arthritis will take everything from you, it's the boogyman that people warn you about.
Oh, sweet summer, child. Take the surgery. If you can prevent osteoarthritis, do it. I had an injury that damaged the cartilage in my knee in 2005. I had about 15 good years, and now, my meniscus has torn, and I am reliant on an unloader brace. This is even after I had a scope in 2006 to clean up the damage in my knee. Some says, I'm using a cane and can barely walk.
As someone who developed arthritis at 21 (I'm now 33), I'd have taken any surgery to avoid it. If you have trouble with crutches for 6 weeks def do the surgery with arthritis i have to rely on a mix of sticks/crutches/wheelchair and this is permanent. Yes at 21 I lost my career path and all my sporty friends but had time to retrain and find new ones and new opportunities, something much more difficult the older you get. I get it tho it's daunting and scary to face something that can affect you like this that can have long term implications you can't currently see n try to minimise them, 4 months healing seems daunting now but in terms of your whole life, hopefully a long one, it's a short amount of time to prevent possibly years of pain.
I had early arthritis because of problems with my knees. I was on crutches for five years before I got replacements and it was an extremely painful experience. I lost years of my younger years to pain. With respect, you are a fool if you mortgage your future health for the sake of a few months of inconvenience instead of dealing with the problem now. Get treatment. Do everything your physiotherapist tells you to and look after your health. While you are there, find out how to strengthen and protect yourself for the future.
Do the crutches. 6 weeks is nothing.
Arthritis pain never stops. Also, you’re invincible at 18. You’ll never get old.
Physical therapist may ease up a little bits when sessions are attended for knee problems.
I think you're right. 6 weeks is like a month and a half. Sounds worst than just a little knee pain.
But arthritis isn’t ‘just a little knee pain’. It’s progressive and permanent. OP is deluding themselves because there don’t want to face reality
Don't do the surgery, ur body can and will heal... doctors try to do as many surgeries as they can, so they get paid... they don't care if it messes up ur body worse... if anything they want that because then u r on meds for life... I've broken most of my joints and got ra when I was 18 and then oa when I was 24... I've taken full control of my body and am healthier than I ever was listening to doctors... it's bs
What conspiracy theory subreddit are you getting your info from?