For the last couple of months, my knees have been making themselves known. I'm aware of them all of the time. At one point, they were so sore I had to walk down stairs backwards. Not good!
The way I usually treat problems like this is to use the affected joint, but gently. I stopped using leg weights during exercise class. (I was using 5 pounds on each ankle.) I stopped crossing my legs when I sat (which I couldn't do anyway because it was so painful). I used a neoprene brace on the more painful knee, but that didn't seem to help - and besides, it pinched. When sitting at my desk at work, I was careful not to have my legs at a funny angle and to stretch them regularly. I also tried to get up and take short walks down the hall more frequently. I learned that walking was good but standing was not.
I'm now happy to report that my knees, while not 100% are definitely much better. A couple of days ago (before the snow) I walked down to the end of my road (1 mile) and back (1 mile uphill). The next day, my knees were feeling better than ever.
I think I'll have to be careful of my knees for a very long time, but if I do I can avoid knee replacement.
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