6 Months of CM

6 Months of Conservative Management

I guess at 6 months you are officially out of the CM period, but I wanted to provide an update on Tucker at 6 months since we started Conservative Management for his CCL tear.

Since he was diagnosed with a tear in October and recommended to undergo surgery, we began a program of CM. Initially we gave him prescription anti inflammatory medications (Novox), gave him lots of rest, and were sure to monitor him closely so he did not aggravate the injury. Eventually we made the transition from the Novox to a natural supplement of Yucca extract to help with the inflammation. We also changed his diet – when and how much he ate, and introduced more walking into his daily routine. This helped him lose a lot of extra weight, and I think the weight loss has made the greatest difference in his overall comfort level and use of his knees.

The CM we performed for the first 2-3 months after his diagnosis has now evolved into a maintenance plan for his knee health. We now walk 3 times per day to keep his joints moving and prevent stiffness, and he is on a modified diet to help maintain his weight at an optimal level. As for supplementation, we still do the Omega 3 Fish Oil capsules of 1000 mg twice per day, and we also give him 10 drops of Yucca extract twice per day in his food. We have not been doing the Glucosamin/Chondrointin as of late (I just need to re-order and have been forgetting), but him not having it for the past week does not seem to have made any difference.

Tucker’s knee health has been great the past few months, and I am really glad we were able to stick with CM. He does experience some stiffness when he wakes up for a walk on a cold morning, but luckily in San Diego those are few and far between I have not seen him limp or favor one leg over another since about 1 month after his CCL tear diagnosis, and he has even muscle tone in both legs.