Resources

Things people with knee OA (i.e. The Experts) have told us

A number of people with knee OA were interviewed as part of the development of this website and the accompanying booklet. The information and experience which these people shared with us helped inform FREE. We are very grateful to these people for their time and thoughts.

 

Understanding OA

“I've made a decision to not to use that [term 'wear and tear']... [it] implies that it's not unusual and everybody gets it and don't, you know, it's not something we need to take notice of really.”
BRENDA, 58 YEAR OLD WOMAN


“I remember the physio saying you just sort of can’t tell with osteoarthritis; some people have got shocking knees and they never need surgery… you can have quite severe osteoarthritis and not have pain."
JOHN, 68 YEAR OLD MAN

 

If I’m tired then I feel pain more... also your attitude, and the attention you pay to it, plays a big part as well.”
SUSAN, 60 YEAR OLD WOMAN


“When you go to the chiropractor or the physio… you haven’t really got time to ask all the questions. And a lot of the things would probably tend to be “well what can I do? What exercises can I do to perhaps try to strengthen it? Or what exercises should I avoid?”... Doctors are busy and you’ve only get a set amount of time, they’ve got someone waiting…. I just want some more information about how I can perhaps stop it getting worse."
WILLIAM, 64 YEAR OLD MAN


"[The health professionals] obviously think it’s a lot worse; that’s what it looks like on the [X-ray] pictures. But I tend to not have that feeling myself… I suppress the messages that come from the knee… I don’t let them control my life."
LINDA, 52 YEAR OLD WOMAN


  "Keep rising above it. I had to keep my personality the same, and not sit back and wallow in self-pity. It’s helped me, even though the pain is quite crucial.”
TUI, 64 YEAR OLD WOMAN

Living Well

"It's not about keeping well in my knee or keeping well in my heart. I's keeping well in my whole body, and there's no point in looking at just one part."
JOHN, 68 YEAR OLD MAN


"I don’t want to stop going to the gym, it’s an important part of my life.”
WILLIAM, 64 YEAR OLD MAN

“Good for the knee, and for me. No such thing as ‘just for the knee’.”
IOSEFO, 70 YEAR OLD MAN

"It’s one small part of my whole… It’s a bit like the swimming and the biking, I’d still do it anyway, even if I didn’t have a bung knee."
SUSAN, 60 YEAR OLD WOMAN


"I try and put it aside… You mustn’t let it rule your life."
GEORGE, 84 YEAR OLD MAN


"It’s just a matter of choosing what you can do and getting a balance."
WILLIAM, 64 YEAR OLD MAN


"I can still be active. I can still enjoy my life. I’m not on pain medication…Yeah, I’m still ‘Me’."
SUSAN, 60 YEAR OLD WOMAN

"Sometimes people say to me, you know “why are you limping?” and that. And then I’ll say “oh, I’ve just got arthritis.” I don’t, I try, because I don’t want it to sort of define me… I want to be, you know, Who I Am and by the way I’ve got that wrong with my leg."
BRENDA, 58 YEAR OLD WOMAN

I’m really mindful that having a good night’s sleep is really key, as well. For you know, wellness in general. And you know, my headspace… if I’m tired, then I feel, it feels like you feel, I feel pain more. Or I’m just not as resilient and bounce back."
SUSAN, 60 YEAR OLD WOMAN

  "What a terrible word, degeneration… I don’t want to buy into that degenerating way of thinking, that this is a downhill bloody run… Certainly the body isn’t going to operate as a twenty-year-old, that’s reality. But there’s more to life as well, you know... I'm much more than my knee."
SUSAN, 60 YEAR OLD WOMAN

Movement and Activity

 

“The exercise classes are not just for my knee. They’re for my hips and back and arms and everything… So, I’m not there just for the knee. … everything else benefits."
GEORGE, 84 YEAR OLD MAN


  My knee pain makes me think about how I do things. But it doesn’t stop me… it makes me think about how I’m going to do it. It’s a planned move.”
KAREN, 62 YEAR OLD WOMAN


"Just go for it, keep going, keep doing what you’re doing, yeah, just as long as you can."
ANNE, 63 YEAR OLD WOMAN


  "I’m not going to just sit down around home and do nothing. I have to go do something, you know."
IOSEFO, 72 YEAR OLD MAN


  "I’m taking from my GP’s attitude that he doesn’t want to give me any excuse to sort of not physically do things. Because I know, and he knows, that you know you’ve got to keep moving as long as you can."
BRENDA, 58 YEAR OLD WOMAN


  "[Biking] there’s no load on your knees… it’s keeping you in motion, keeping you active, and it’s not stress or anything on your knees. So biking has been a saviour... I think still keeping your tendons and your muscles still toned up and working, surely that’s got to be of benefit."
ANNE, 63 YEAR OLD WOMAN


"I visited a nutritionist and lost 25kgs, and went to the gym to build up strength… running up and down a flight of stairs, I actually can do that now, whereas I couldn’t do that a year ago... I’ve lost 25kgs and my knees are significantly better for it.”
LINDA, 52 YEAR OLD WOMAN

Support


"[The health professionals have been] excellent  really, all the way through... they’ve been positive too and encouraging… it’s like a team."
ANNE, 63 YEAR OLD WOMAN

 

"I knew that the Arthritis Association existed, but I never thought of approaching it myself. And it, I mean part of it would be because I never really identified myself as a person with arthritis. And I suppose, in a way, nor did my GP. It’s, we’ve just sort of been dealing with the sore knees... I just feel more optimistic about it. I think that, you know, that the notion that there are, there is a whole group of people out there who have a whole lot of expertise in this particular thing. And that if I asked for help and advice there, that it’s available."
MARY, 71 YEAR OLD WOMAN


“As much as the orthopaedic surgeon spoke about weight loss, I don’t know that that was well supported… it’s about breaking that vicious circle and I couldn’t do it myself; it was really, really hard… I didn’t know to seek support, I didn’t know to find someone like this nutritionist that I found last year. And I think that a little bit of hand hold, holding hands, to take you to somebody that can help break that vicious circle would have been really good.”
LINDA, 52 YEAR OLD WOMAN

"[People with knee OA] are quite a silent group of people… I would certainly be excited to not have to invent the ways myself but to be hear about our people’s success stories, so I could make decisions for me about would I then like to do."
LINDA, 52 YEAR OLD WOMAN