Question
In the past 9 months I have had 2 surgeries for lateral epicondylitis. Unfortunately they did not work. I was also told I had tendonitis in the same wrist, that would go away with the P.T. I was receiving. After 9 months of P.T. he changed his diagnosis to arthritis. Now I have developed a unexplained pain in the knee on same side, which after 3 week I am having pain in ankle on same side. My Dr. took a X Ray this past week and didn't find much from that. I am only having slight swelling in the knee. The ankle always has swelling (foot was broken many years ago, I stand most of the day at work and am 50 lbs overweight) One of my other doctors told me about his problems with Arthritic Synovitis, but I can't find much information on this. I was tested recently for Rheumatoid Arthritis and it showed that I did not have it. This test and 14 other where done because of having hives for 5 week. I showed no signs of allergies to the 36 thing I wastest I was tested on. Does this sound like I could have Arthritic Synovitis. I hate to keep playing the guessing game and the doctor said the testing for this is very expensive. Can you help shine any light on this.

Thank You
Mary

Answer
Mary,

I am not surprised that you can not find information on arthritic synovitis since there is no such condition. Synovitis is the inflammation of a synovial membrane which is the lining of your joints. Almost all arthritis has some level of synovitis involved.

You can very well have some synovitis or arthritis involved in your ankle and knee. This is not surprising since you had a broken foot. Many people after breaking a foot will find that they have altered their walking. This causes abnormal pressure on the ankle and knee which leads to improper wear and tear on these joints causing inflammation in the joints.

Ask your doctor about a PT evaluation of your condition to see if there is a functional problem left over from the foot fracture.

Rusty