TKR 5 months post RTKR - sore inner thigh

Michigan Mitten

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Hello all. So glad to have found this site as it has helped me get thru some rough days due to my RTKR on June 25, 2020. I found comfort knowing that others have had struggles with recovery and that I was not alone in my journey. I am not the patient who was able to go golfing or ride a bike marathon 3 weeks out of surgury! I too have had some rough nites sleeping, finding a comfortable position and also have experience insomnia of which I started taking melotonin 5 mg. I was wondering if I should be concerned about not being able to straighten knee. I can’t get past 15! I go to pt twice a week for a hour and my pt massages, stretches my leg and has me hang my leg of table so gravity can help straighten. I stretch at home thru out the day and feel like I am not making any gains.
should I be pushing myself harder to stretch ligaments and tendons ? Will my rom improve with time? I am worried my dr will want to cut me open to remove scar tissue. I am using a cane still at 10 weeks but able to go 10 feet without. I still have fatigue and wake up with stiff knee.
some days I have numbness in my feet and my sciatica tingles. Probably frim to much sitting. Any help, comfort or suggestion would be appreciated
 
Just wanted to let you know you are not alone! My RTKR was a week before yours and I haven't gotten my extension back either. I have the same worries. Hanging on to the advice I get here.
 
I had total knee replacement on my right knee on Dec 3, 2019. Shortly after surgery I went into PT but my knee would not straighten beyond 20 degrees which was very troubling to me. My doctor scheduled a Manipulation Under anesthesia (MOA) 4 weeks post op. After that procedure I made steady and rapid progress and was released from PT one month after that procedure with extension at 2 degrees. I continued exercises on my own at home and the knee has steadily improved. I am now walking 3 miles every morning, biking and golfing with no pain, swelling or limping. Extension Is not quite as good as my left knee but it is fine for everything I need to do.
 
Hello and welcome to Bonesmart's Knee Recovery. :flwrysmile:
should I be pushing myself harder to stretch ligaments and tendons? Will my rom improve with time? I am worried my dr will want to cut me open to remove scar tissue. I am using a cane still at 10 weeks but able to go 10 feet without. I still have fatigue and wake up with a stiff knee.

Working harder will only backfire your recovery. What your knee needs most is healing. As it heals the swelling will diminish. When that diminishes your ROM will improve because the swelling will go down. What you need to work on are your gait and balance.

My extension was much slower coming in than my bend. The best thing I did for it was to walk with a longer stride with a heel to toe gait. This automatically stretches those huge tendons and muscles. But, it doesn't happen overnight and you want to do it slowly so you don't cause more pain and swelling.

A stiff knee is completely normal and nothing to worry about.
 
The following are our basic guidelines and should help get you started. As you read more on other members' recovery threads, you’ll get a better perspective of what to expect and what not to do, especially regarding PT.

Knee Recovery: The Guidelines

1. Don’t worry: Your body will heal all by itself. Relax, let it, don't try and hurry it, don’t worry about any symptoms now; they are almost certainly temporary
2. Control discomfort:
rest
ice
take your pain meds by prescription schedule (not when pain starts!)​
3. Do what you want to do BUT
a. If it hurts, don't do it and don't allow anyone - especially a physical therapist - to do it to you
b. If your leg swells more or gets stiffer in the 24 hours after doing it, don't do it again.
4. PT or exercise can be useful BUT take note of these
5. Here is a week-by-week guide for Activity progression for TKRs


The Recovery articles:
The importance of managing pain after a TKR and the pain chart
Swollen and stiff knee: what causes it?
Energy drain for TKRs
Elevation is the key
Ice to control pain and swelling
Heel slides and how to do them properly
Chart representation of TKR recovery
Healing: how long does it take?

Post op blues is a reality - be prepared for it
Sleep deprivation is pretty much inevitable - but what causes it?

There are also some cautionary articles here
Myth busting: no pain, no gain
Myth busting: the "window of opportunity" in TKR
Myth busting: on getting addicted to pain meds

We try to keep the forum a positive and safe place for our members to talk about their questions or concerns and to report successes with their joint replacement surgery.

While members may create as many threads as they like in a majority of BoneSmart's forums, we ask that each member have only one recovery thread. This policy makes it easier to go back and review history before providing advice.
 
Hi and Welcome!

We all recover/heal/progress at different timeframes. Recovery from a knee replacement takes an average of a year (52 weeks) so 10 weeks is early days. Try not to be discouraged.

Extension can take quite a while for some of us, it’s a slow process. How was your extension before surgery? If you weren’t straight before then it can take longer for you to get there now.

Gentle stretching is good, don’t try to force it, and don’t allow a PT to ever try to force your leg straight.
 
Thank you for your reply . I will take your advice using longer strides, heal toe. I’ll keep up with my current physical therapy exercises and keep positive . Nothing could of prepared my for the the TKR and recovery process. It’s been an adventure With all kinds of surprise side effects ! Thank you again
 
Thanks for your reply. I had heard sometimes the mua doesn’t work and it is very painful. Did you find it painful and how long were you laid up? I see the dr on sept 22 so I am hoping for improved rom.
 
@Michigan Mitten, it is not necessary to use the "Quote This Message" to reply to a post. This feature should be used only when there is a post or several posts on another topic between your post and the post you want to respond to. To reply to a post, just scroll down and put your cursor in the dialogue box and start typing.

Use the "Quote This Message" to reply to a post only when there is a post or several posts on another topic between your post and the post you want to respond to and you need the entire post to be quoted.

You can quote a sentence or a section of a post by simply highlighting it and clicking on the "Quote Me" oblong that appears in gray at the end of the highlighted selection. This is frequently a better choice than quoting a whole post. You can use this feature in several different post by a member if you want to respond to things in multiple posts. When you go to the dialogue box you will see "Get Quotes " and in parenthesis the number of quotes. Click on that when you want a quote inserted into your post.
 
MUA for me was not at all painful just uncomfortable on the machine afterwards - though for me it did not work ,and again unfortunately for me I am still on crutches walking with bent leg, 18 months after op and-but Im one of the unfortunate ones
 
Hi Michigan Mitten! I am only about a week behind you and I feel your pain. When you said nothing could have prepared prepared you for this recovery process, it definitely struck a chord with me. I took this photo from the bonesmart website and it puts everything into perspective! Hope it helps you like it helps me. Best wishes on your continued recovery!
 

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That’s a great picture. Lots That shows, the depression vs I can do this -stay positive, the feeling of an accomplishment in recovery only to wake up next day ljke your back at square one, a good nites sleep ( kinda -4 hr stretch) to insomnia It’s been a journey I would not wish on anyone.
 
Had my RTKR in June 2020 and I have experienced very sore inner thigh muscles. I sleep with a pillow between my legs and wonder if this is the culprit. Has anybody else had this issues. It causes pain when walking. This started about 2 months after surgury. I do stretch, apply heat but it just returns the next day. My right rom is about 98 and 10 which I think will not improve till after I get my left knee replace on dec 10th, 2020. I say that because my left knee won’t straighten out so my right compensates. I worry now that my recovery will be difficult due to this inner thigh pain on both legs that just won’t go away. Has anyone else’s experienced this and any suggestion would be great.
 
@Michigan Mitten you will notice that I have merged your two threads together as we prefer that members in recovery only have one thread.

This is for three reasons:
1. if you keep starting new threads, you miss the posts others have left you in the old threads
2. it often ends up that information is unnecessarily repeated
3. it's best if we can keep all your recovery story in one place so it's easily accessed if we need to advise you.

Please keep all your questions and updates on this thread.

I don't think your pain is caused by the pillow. I would think you might be walking all wrong trying to stay off that knee that will be replaced soon. It does sound like your replaced knee is trying to compensate. Unfortunately I don't think there is much you can do until you have your LTKR. Ice or heat - whichever works best for you. And if you are doing any exercises I would stop and let all this settle.

Five months out is still early in a process that can take one year or more.
 
Thank you Jaycey. I appreciate your thoughts and support. Your probably right about having to compensate on my new right knee to accommodate my bad left knee. I can’t wait till surgury as in the last 2 weeks my left bad knee has become painful stiff and using the walker to avoid pressure on it. Cant get to surgury fast enough!!! You guys are the best and would not of made it thru my first rTKR without you and everyone else going thru it.
 
Yes, use a walker, crutch or cane for now. You don't want to get into the habit of limping. It's very hard to break once you are on the other side of surgery.

Not long now!
 

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