Antpitta's
new member
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2024
- Messages
- 7
- Age
- 65
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Gender
- Male
Hi. 18 days since my left TKR and I guess like many others a bit of a mixed bag. First up I'm in the UK so reckon some of the methods/approaches to recovery may differ a little from the majority of you who I see are in North America.
Surgery went super smoothly and (my decision) I spent two nights in hospital before discharge with excellent pain control and three sessions of physio to ensure we'd been through the basic exercises and that I was comfortable using crutches and in particular confident going up/down stairs which would make home life easy. Both physios were excellent, supportive and of the "discomfort OK/pain bad" school .... yipeee!!
The 2 hour drive home was pretty uncomfortable but happy to back and spent the first couple of days mainly resting. I'd bought a Cryo-Cuff ahead of time and have been using it regularly each day (how do people cope without an ice machine?!). I was supplied with a months worth of painkillers (Paracetamol, Meptazinol & Nefopam) plus a bottle of liquid Morphine "for breakthrough pain" though I've never felt close to opening it. Overall post-surgery pain has not been a problem and I doubt ever above 3 or 4 on the regular 1-10 scale so certainly better than I expected.
It was 10 days post-surgery when I got to visit with the local physio: boy what a disappointment. A 30 minute session which comprised of him mainly taking notes/form filling followed by an experiment to see how far he could push both extension and flexion. He was OK with my extension but clearly unimpressed with my efforts at flexion: it was visibly obvious that I had a lot of post-surgery swelling and I explained that I could go to probably 70 degrees seated but he just said "that doesn't count" and you need to show me what you can do on your back and to be honest I doubt that was more than 45 degrees even when he "helped me try harder". I was kind of shocked at that approach but having read others tales not entirely surprised. The rest of the session was just him telling me to up all the exercise reps from 10 to 30, book the next appointment for SIX weeks time and expects 140 degrees (or 120 degrees minimum) ROM. So for now I'm not sure what I'll be doing PT wise but if I do decide I want/need more I'll probably need to book/pay my own physio rather than use the local health service facility.
Anyway, apart from that I've been working through the supplied exercises adding those that I couldn't originally do until function or muscle control returned (like straight leg lifts) and gradually increasing the reps in line with the suggestions of the original hospital physio's. I was up/out walking with crutches for the first week or so but do without around the house now and just carry a hiking pole "just in case" when out in the garden (we have an extensive rural garden). And to be honest out walking my new knee feels stronger than my unoperated knee although my gait is a bit odd down to the pain there (I am/was bone-on-bone in both knees and know the right leg will need to be done in due course).
So things were going pretty well even if improving my ROM was a slow job but Sunday I woke up to find much more swelling around the knee. In retrospect I probably overdid things on Friday and Saturday and this is a reaction to it. I'm sure based on what I've read here I've backed right off the last two days (swelling a little better on Monday) with mostly rest/ice/elevation ... and patience!
There is so much good info on this forum - and amongst the stories of pain and set backs plenty of encouragement, support and ideas (for example, I've been trying out suggested alternatives to traditional heel slides to encourage improvements in flexion that I'd never have thought of). And I will try not to go to sleep at night worrying about how many degrees ROM I've managed today.
I know it is a long process, recovery is not a straight line and we're all different but I will get there!
Surgery went super smoothly and (my decision) I spent two nights in hospital before discharge with excellent pain control and three sessions of physio to ensure we'd been through the basic exercises and that I was comfortable using crutches and in particular confident going up/down stairs which would make home life easy. Both physios were excellent, supportive and of the "discomfort OK/pain bad" school .... yipeee!!
The 2 hour drive home was pretty uncomfortable but happy to back and spent the first couple of days mainly resting. I'd bought a Cryo-Cuff ahead of time and have been using it regularly each day (how do people cope without an ice machine?!). I was supplied with a months worth of painkillers (Paracetamol, Meptazinol & Nefopam) plus a bottle of liquid Morphine "for breakthrough pain" though I've never felt close to opening it. Overall post-surgery pain has not been a problem and I doubt ever above 3 or 4 on the regular 1-10 scale so certainly better than I expected.
It was 10 days post-surgery when I got to visit with the local physio: boy what a disappointment. A 30 minute session which comprised of him mainly taking notes/form filling followed by an experiment to see how far he could push both extension and flexion. He was OK with my extension but clearly unimpressed with my efforts at flexion: it was visibly obvious that I had a lot of post-surgery swelling and I explained that I could go to probably 70 degrees seated but he just said "that doesn't count" and you need to show me what you can do on your back and to be honest I doubt that was more than 45 degrees even when he "helped me try harder". I was kind of shocked at that approach but having read others tales not entirely surprised. The rest of the session was just him telling me to up all the exercise reps from 10 to 30, book the next appointment for SIX weeks time and expects 140 degrees (or 120 degrees minimum) ROM. So for now I'm not sure what I'll be doing PT wise but if I do decide I want/need more I'll probably need to book/pay my own physio rather than use the local health service facility.
Anyway, apart from that I've been working through the supplied exercises adding those that I couldn't originally do until function or muscle control returned (like straight leg lifts) and gradually increasing the reps in line with the suggestions of the original hospital physio's. I was up/out walking with crutches for the first week or so but do without around the house now and just carry a hiking pole "just in case" when out in the garden (we have an extensive rural garden). And to be honest out walking my new knee feels stronger than my unoperated knee although my gait is a bit odd down to the pain there (I am/was bone-on-bone in both knees and know the right leg will need to be done in due course).
So things were going pretty well even if improving my ROM was a slow job but Sunday I woke up to find much more swelling around the knee. In retrospect I probably overdid things on Friday and Saturday and this is a reaction to it. I'm sure based on what I've read here I've backed right off the last two days (swelling a little better on Monday) with mostly rest/ice/elevation ... and patience!
There is so much good info on this forum - and amongst the stories of pain and set backs plenty of encouragement, support and ideas (for example, I've been trying out suggested alternatives to traditional heel slides to encourage improvements in flexion that I'd never have thought of). And I will try not to go to sleep at night worrying about how many degrees ROM I've managed today.
I know it is a long process, recovery is not a straight line and we're all different but I will get there!