For a while now my left knee's been killin' me. So I went to my primary care physician and he X-rays my left knee. He says my knee is shot and that a lot of the cartilage is gone. He sends me to an orthopedic specialist... Well, I went to the Orthopedic specialist yesterday and... He looks at the X-ray of my left knee and says, I don't want to offend your primary care physician, but there's nothing wrong with your knee. Then he examines me and wants to X-ray my hips. He shows the X-rays to me and says the cartilage is gone and that I need both hips replaced... What a surprise, you go to a surgeon, and he says you need surgery...I'm shocked. I dunno what to think, but I'm really bummed out. Hip replacement surgery is a major deal to me. Funny thing is that my Mother and my older brother have had both hips replaced. I don't know why neither Doctor has addressed my weight. Unfortunately, I'm really overweight, yeah, I know, it's my own fault. I can't see why we can't at least try physical therapy and a serious weight reduction effort. There is a PT I know that I've worked with in the past,who I thought was a magician, who's EASILY the best PT I've ever worked with. I'm going to talk to her today and see what she thinks. I'm really kinda down right now, but pretty motivated to loose the weight to try and improve my health. One last thing...I know he's a primary care Doc, but I don't understand how he can look at an X-ray and say my knee is junk, and another Doc looks at the same X-ray and says there's nothing wrong with my knee... Is that why they call it "practicing" medicine? Hey Doc, when yer done practicing, give me a call...
You need a "sports medicine group". They have the most experiece. Find one in a major metropolitan area.. They'll give you an mri and are the best at reading it. You'll have a complete picture of the knee. Xrays won't do it.