Breakthrough arthritis treatments will be available in five years, page-2

Former Carlton player Andrew Walker was so crippled with arthritic pain he could barely walk off the field when he retired in 2016.

But he is back playing thanks to a new treatment.

“I really did put my body through hell to try and get up and play every week, but I literally had sort of you know, that really yuck sort of eight to 10 pain on a on a daily basis,” Walker said.

He was dealing with constant swelling of the knee that had to be drained and had undergone surgery twice in 10 years.

Walker played 202 games for Carlton and said the last 25 to 30 games were “a real struggle with osteoarthritis”.

He tried steroids, painkillers, anti-inflammatories, plasma rich protein injections an even stem cell therapy to stem the pain but nothing seemed to work.

The ex-Carlton player successfully trialled a new arthritis medication. Picture: Waye Ludbey

Then, in 2016 along with around 50 other AFL players, he took part in a trial of a new treatment Pentosan Polysulphate Sodium (PPS).

Even before he finished the six week course of injections he noticed an improvement, his pain improved he regained a range of motion in his knee, allowing him to cancel the booking he had for partial knee replacement surgery.

Walker returned to his hometown of Echuca after retiring from Carlton and took up playing country football and after the treatment was able to run up to 30 kilometres a week.

“I’m still I’m very, very active, I still play a level of football, I still run or do some sort of exercise on a daily basis. So very, very fortunate,” he said.

Following his retirement, Walker was employed by Carlton as a Development & Integration coach, specialising in helping first year players in their transition to professional football.

He also signed up to play West Preston-Lakeside in the Northern Football League in 2017 and in 2018 headed back to his original junior club Echuca to take up the role as a playing coach.

Walker has three children sons Cody and Arli and a daughter Leti who, like their dad, love chasing a football with the family dog in tow.

Walker said its one of the reasons he moved back to Echuca Moama, and purchased some acreage.

He wants his children to experience the same carefree childhood he had.

The effect of the trial arthritis treatment lasted for almost six years and he is now finishing a second course.

“I was the biggest, biggest sceptic of all time with all sorts of drugs but I feel like I’ve had sort of two or three really good years of nearly pain free for the best part of that time,’ he said.

He is one of a group of AFL footballers who have helped finance the development of PPS as an arthritis treatment.