I'm a 31 year old, very active, male. I'm very conscience of what I eat, and consider myself very healthy. I snowboard religiously, cycle, and compete in martial arts (japanese fencing) tournaments.
However, in 2000, I tore my ACL in my right knee and had ACL replacement surgery. In 2003 I again tore the ACL in my right knee, along with my meniscus cartilage. After my second surgery I never felt like I healed right. I had a lot of muscle atrophy and it never really got back to the muscle tone it once had. I've never been 100% pain free when I'm doing something physical, whether is post activity soreness, or just pain from over exertion. I've also had an extremely tight hamstring in my right leg which resulted in some minor sciatic pain.
2009 I finally went to see an orthopedic surgeon to get some XRays and an MRI. I have early arthritis in both knees, and partially torn ACL, as well as a less than perfect meniscus cartilage.
This year I noticed that I can no longer sit with my legs folded underneath me, so that my butt is resting on my heels (pretty important in martial arts). Then last month came the big one ... I herniated my L5-S1 disc and now have extreme sciatic pain and all over discomfort.
I've started getting into some yoga stretching, but a lot of the poses for my back hurt my knee.
So I'm just starting to get a little overwhelmed and exhausted by this. It's been about 10 years since I've been really pain free and I feel like doctors are just not helping. I hate surgery, and I'm not a pill popper (at all). Is there one type of doctor I should be seeing or should I be going to multiple specialists?