Mère de quatre enfants passionnée par les chevaux remonte en selle, prête à profiter à nouveau de sa vie de famille bien remplie
With four children aged eight to 13, four horses, two dogs, four cats and eight chickens, it's fair to say that Katie Gilmour, 49, from The Haven, West Sussex, leads a busy and active life. As an accomplished journalist and podcaster who thrives on activity and fitness, Katie developed instability in her right knee in 2021 while running with her daughter and their family pony at a showing competition. Later diagnosed with patellar tendinopathy, Katie's right knee began to slowly deteriorate and become more unstable. A subsequent accident in early 2024 involving a dislocated kneecap led to surgery later that year. Despite the operation, Katie's knee was still compromised by a lack of cartilage and the daily pain was exhausting and limiting her usual activities.
After treatment with Arthrosamid® in January 2025, Katie regained all her energy, is recovering well and is back with her beloved horses, walking the dogs and doing school runs. Here, Katie tells us how knee pain impacted her family life, her experience with Arthrosamid® treatment and why she thinks it was a "Game changer."
"I distinctly remember when my knee problems started. I had taken my daughter and our wonderful pony, Clover, to a competition during summer 2021. My daughter was a bit shy in front of the judge and asked me to run with her. The ground was very hard, uneven, and I was wearing heavy country boots, and despite being in good shape, I felt a tear in my knee and heard an internal 'pop, pop, pop'. Like a typical rider, I ignored it, but it didn't go away and my knee gradually became unstable and painful. Eventually, I consulted a physiotherapist and was referred to an orthopedic surgeon, who diagnosed patellar tendinopathy.
"Despite shock wave therapy and steroids in my knee, things got worse in February 2024 when my knee suffered a catastrophic injury. I had just ridden my spirited Portuguese horse at a clinic, I was standing talking when my dogs hit my knee, rotating my kneecap to the other side, practically tearing everything inside my knee in the process. It was incredibly painful and happened at a time when we were in the middle of renovating and rebuilding our house. After 11 weeks of new dislocations and subluxations, it became clear that it wouldn't heal on its own and I underwent MPFL repair and arthroscopy. The arthroscopy revealed significant cartilage loss, and the pain I was feeling was due to bone-on-bone friction. Despite the surgery, I started limping and still felt too much pain to live my 'normal' life. Having been so active all my life, I found that being confined to little exercise was affecting my mental health and I wanted to resolve the pain and stiffness without further surgery.
"I've been around horses for most of my life and spent part of my adult life working with them. I had discovered a treatment used by veterinarians called Arthramid® and had seen firsthand the positive effects it can have on horses with joint problems. I even asked my vet if he could give me Arthramid! He thought I was joking. Actually no, and I started researching the human equivalent - a hydrogel injection called Arthrosamid®, supported by scientific data and manufactured by the same company.
"I found Dr. George Bownes, Consultant in Musculoskeletal, Sport and Exercise Medicine at the Fortius Clinic. He was extremely positive about my eligibility for treatment, and, in January 2025, I received the injection and followed the six-week rehabilitation program. This included two weeks of rest, then a gradual increase in mobility and physiotherapist-directed exercises during the remaining weeks.