Question
I have fibromyalgia and other stuff. I also have moderate osteo-arthritis in both knees, I am in pain every day. I had a cortisone shot and it helped for about 2 weeks. I would rather have a root canal with no anesthesia than to have that again.
I am taking anti-inflammatory rx naproxen. Any other suggestions?
Thanks  

Answer
I've heard for years about how moderate exercise can help with  both osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia, but I was skeptical.  The first few weeks it certainly wasn't helpful, and the aches, whether brought on by exercise or just continuing pain, made it really easy to quit.

This summer I was determined to keep up a daily walk, mostly for my dog's sake, as he also has OA in just about every joint.  We'd start out fairly slow to warm up, then go at a comfortable pace.  We weren't doing any marathons, either.  We worked up to a mile, then topped off at about a mile and a half at the end of the summer.

By September's end, I was suprised at how much it had improved my hips.  I was on my feet for about 5 hours on Oct 1 for a local scleroderma event, and the degree of pain was way below what I expected.  I'm trying to keep it up inside on an elliptical trainer.  It's no miracle cure - I still take pain meds just about every day.  But there is a noticeable difference in comfort.

Speaking of noticeable difference, I know there was a study this year on glucosamine/chondriotin in knee arthritis that showed it wasn't effective.  I've been taking it on the advice of the orthopedic doc who diagnosed my OA from just about day one, but thought I'd try backing off on it to see for myself if it made a difference.  It did!  I halved my dosage, and by the end of a month of that, I noticed more pain, especially that first-think-in-the-morning pain and stiffness.  This is OA in the hips, so I can't testify for knee arthritis, but it may be worth talking to your doctor about taking it.

And one more thing - according to my rheumatologist, the reason why some cortisone shots are painful is the size of the needle.  She was telling me this one day several years ago while injecting cortisone into my hip, and I have to tell you, she has it right!  It was not a painful procedure at all.  I'd have it done again anytime, as long as _she_ was doing it!