I tore something bad in my knee years ago and in my right shoulder three years ago. Doctor wouldn't do anything for the knee. Ran a massage tool down my back/spine for the shoulder. It felt better for a little while but now it's getting really bad. When I rotate it I can feel things popping and moving around. It's loud enough that other people can hear it and I've been told it sounds like a small engine trying to start.
I have no health insurance. Doctors are out of the question because I'm sick of them and I'm not going near one in the current climate. I'm sick of treating the pain levels with various OTC opioids like kratom. I'd like to build enough strength or do some kind of PT to make the knee/shoulder more manageable. My thinking is if my overall health improves maybe they will to.
Are there any good supplements to help with joint pain? I'm pretty sure both my knees are shredded. They were both already pretty painful before I tore the ligament or whatever out of my right knee. I'm not sure what it's called. MCL? LCL? Whichever one is on the outside of the leg. It's completely gone on my right knee. Is there any hope of restoring it through surgery now or am I just fucked?
I have torn THREE ACLs in my knees, my left twice, and my right once, from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and had 3 separate ACL repairs and now I do physical therapy RELIGIOUSLY twice a week for my knees and also five times a week for my neck which is chronically injured but I never had surgery on that, and honestly none of them bother me and are strong as hell because i work out constantly and I'm the strongest I've ever been.
You will need an MRI if you really want to know what you tore, and then yes, if you REALLY want your knees to be at their best I'm sorry to tell you that there's a good chance you will need surgery, but perhaps not as it all depends on what you really tore. I don't know if MCL or LCL are so bad. If you feel it on the OUTSIDE of your knee that sounds like it MIGHT not be the ACL as I can tell you that all 3 times I have torn mine I felt it on the INSIDE of my knees, but injuries can be tricky and you can't really know what you tore without an MRI so I would personally do that if I were you, but if you didn't tear your ACL and it's PCL and/or MCL I think those are lesser injuries so you might get lucky.
If they tell you you need surgery though you should probably get a 2nd and maybe even a 3rd opinion from doctors as yes, not all doctors are to be trusted, but if 2-3 doctors all agree you need surgery then chances are you do.
I mean you could opt to not get surgery, but if you don't your knees will probably not be as strong, but again, that's from the perspective of a torn ACL, NOT the other ligaments which I know less about, but for a torn ACL if you don't get it repaired you will never have the same level of strength and your knee could constantly go out on you.
Regardless of what you injured though, and whether or not you will need surgery, you will want to do physical therapy. P.T. works wonder not only to help you recover from a surgery but also to prevent needing surgeries in lesser injuries so perhaps you could just do P.T. and make your knees better and not need surgery and also the more you work them out the less pain you will have and the less drugs you will need, but of course your legs will be very sore after you work out and tear those muscles before they re-heal, but ice and heat therapy can work wonders with only some anti-inflammatories over the counter as needed and not over used.
I have a very good exercise regime for my knees consisting of about 9 exercises: lunges with kettlebells, 1 leg balancing where i twist my trunk while standing on 1 leg 10 times without putting the other foot down, 1 leg balancing while attached to a SPRI cord tied to my car while picking up a dumb bell over and over, a knee twisting exercise, hops, 1 where I step side ways, 1 where i fall a specific odd looking way into a kneeling position which works certain muscles, 1 where i jump to my feet from my knees, and 1 where i walk around with a SPRI resistance band pulling my legs apart.
They aren't all easy to describe in words though.
A good physical therapist can really work wonders but they can be expensive, but if you find a good one they can maybe give you exercises like these to do at home to save you money.
I hope for your sake you don't need surgery because it sucks a lot, but IMO I'm glad I got surgery all 3 times because without it I'd be worse off. If you do need surgery it goes without saying you will have to be on anti-inflamatories for months afterwards, and you will be given pain medication that you can choose not to take if you don't want, but you might want to sometimes if it hurts a lot...
