MUA Please Help. What should I do

Good Girl

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Hi everyone I had total knee replacement on 26th April this year. Everything was going well until after eight weeks. I felt as if I had a very very tight band around my knee which prevented me from bending it. 13th of September I had my knee forcibly bent under anaesthetic (MUA) Which have left me with swollen knee and in such a lot of pain in the knee, and I still cannot bend my leg. Any suggestions please. I am on liquid morphine every 4hours. Kind Regards. Good Girl
 
@Good Girl Welcome to BoneSmart!

Which knee was replaced? I'll put your surgery date in your signature for you.

So sorry you are suffering after MUA. Unfortunately recovery starts all over again post MUA. Are you icing and elevating? Ice will help reduce the swelling that is causing you pain. Ice for 45-60 minutes several times per day.

I'll leave your recovery guidelines here for you:

Knee Recovery: The Guidelines
We are all different, as are the approaches to this recovery and rehab. The key is, “Find what works for YOU.“ Your doctor(s), physiotherapist(s) and BoneSmart are here to help. But you have the final decision as to what approach you use.

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 very general week-by-week guide. Activity progression for TKRs

6. Access these pages on the website

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.
 
Everything was going well until after eight weeks. I felt as if I had a very very tight band around my knee which prevented me from bending it. 13th of September I had my knee forcibly bent under anaesthetic (MUA) Which have left me with swollen knee and in such a lot of pain in the knee, and I still cannot bend my leg.
Wow…nearly 20 weeks after TKR seems awfully late to have a MUA. I was under the impression they are usually performed between 8 and 12 weeks. I’m honestly shocked at how many surgeons perform MUAs after TKR. I’m beginning to believe MUAs are solely extra money makers for surgeons.

I hope you will let your knee heal with no further aggressive treatments including PT.
 
Wow…nearly 20 weeks after TKR seems awfully late to have a MUA. I was under the impression they are usually performed between 8 and 12 weeks. I’m honestly shocked at how many surgeons perform MUAs after TKR. I’m beginning to believe MUAs are solely extra money makers for surgeons.
We have found that you can have a MUA at any time after your surgery. There is no time limit. Unfortunately, many people are feeling the same way about MUAs. Some really do need one, but they are very few. Adhesions are quite rare. Many call these rare problems by scar tissue. They are not. Scar tissue is need to keep your wounds closed!
 
Welcome to BoneSmart, @Good Girl. I'm sorry to hear you are in so much pain.

Unfortunately, many surgeons fail to tell patients that an MUA resets your recovery back to square one. The procedure causes swelling, which is why you can't bend.

You need to treat your knee as though this is week one of its recovery: lots of icing, elevating and some gentle stretches. Give it time. :console2:
 
We have found that you can have a MUA at any time after your surgery. There is no time limit.
When I saw my surgeon at 6 weeks he gave me a 3 week limit (9 weeks total) because he said if he waited any longer there was a chance of breaking the tibia or fibula (can't remember which) when doing the MUA after that :what:
 
Every aspect of this recovery has many conflicting opinions. Some surgeons will only do MUAs within a certain time frame, others will give the patient more time to recover before doing one.
 
Will I hear a clicking in my knee after my tkr
 
 
I had a total knee replacement on the 23rd of April this year all was doing well and then after 9 weeks, it felt as though I had a really really tight band around my knee preventing me from bending it. I could not do the exercises as I wanted to. I went into hospital on 13th September to have a MUA. that didn't work either and I still couldn't bend my knee which is also very very painful. My Surgeon have arranged for me to go back into hospital on the 20th of December to have XRAY, have a MUA AGAIN and then have my leg fitted to a machine CPM (constant passive motion)
I'm not looking forward to this at all. Please advise what I should do.
Thank You.
 
I'm not looking forward to this at all.
If it was me, I would not have a second MUA, especially since the first one didn’t work. It didn’t work because you didn’t have any adhesions. Whenever a procedure is recommended, you have the right to make the final choice, and decline it, if you don’t want it.
Saying no to therapy - am I allowed to?

What kind of activity have you been doing all through your recovery? What have you done in PT. Are you still going to PT? The answers to these questions are very important. :flwrysmile:

Some of us heal slower than others, and some of us have more swelling than others, and we have to accept the way our own body heals, and try really hard to let it heal in it’s own timeframe.

Getting back to regular activities, or doing too many exercises, can backfire if we are not yet healed enough to do these things. Pushing through any resulting pain can cause, or maintain, the pain, swelling and inflammation we have while our knee is healing.

This recovery takes an average of a full year, so you still have a lot of healing to do.
 
By the way, I merged your newest thread with your original recovery thread, as we prefer that members in recovery have only one thread.

This benefits you because all your information is in one place, easy to find, and maintains a nice journal for you.

This also benefits our staff, as your information is all in one place, and we often go back through your thread for previous details, so we know what you‘ve been through which helps us advise you better.

So, please keep all your posts in this thread. If you’d like a new title, let us know what you want, and we’ll change it for you.

Many members bookmark their thread in their computer browser, so they can find it when they log on.
How can I find my threads and posts?

Best wishes on your continuing recovery! :flwrysmile:
 

 
had a really really tight band around my knee preventing me from bending it.
This isn't an uncommon experience. When it happened to me several months post-op, I discovered I was overdoing the exercise, which had caused my knee to swell inside. Staying off it, elevating and icing for a couple of weeks made a big difference for me.

have a MUA AGAIN
Just curious, but if the first MUA didn't help, why does he think doing it again will make a difference?

Please read the articles that @Jockette shared with you before you agree to another surgery.

Sending hugs of support as you deal with this decision.
:console2:
 
I agree that another MUA would not be helpful and only set your recovery back. If you had adhesions, what so many are calling scar tissue, the first one would have worked. All it did was anger your traumatized knee even more. That tight band feeling is part of the normal healing process. Your knee is swollen inside and outside. That makes it tight and unable to bend well. Get that swelling down and your knee will bend better. To lower the swelling, cut back on your activities and ice and elevate much more than what you are doing.

Time to get the swelling down and the knee healed is what you need. Having had that MUA set your recovery time back to the date of the MUA, September 13, 2022. That is where you start counting your recovery time now, not in April. That means your knee is only less than 3 months old. It needs to be treated very gently and not doing aggressive PT. Time and patience are what you need to exercise! Good luck.
 
Thank you all for you trusted advice. I will tell my Surgeon that I will not have the procedure due. I will crack on with all your help and advice. What kind of exercises should I be doing at home, because my next appointment with my PT is 23rd Dec
 
Can you try some massage? Myofascial release? Graston technique? See if maybe that helps?
 
What kind of exercises should I be doing at home,
What exercises are you doing now? What do you do at PT? My guess is you are doing too much, which is not letting your knee heal.

Regaining our ROM does not require forceful bending or painful exercises.
Regaining our ROM is more about Time than repetitions of a list of exercises.

Time to recover.
Time for pain and swelling to settle.
Time to heal.

Our range of motion is right there all along just waiting for that to happen so it can show itself.

In the general run of things, it doesn't need to be fought for, worked hard for or worried about. It will happen. Normal activity is the key to success.
 
Regarding exercises. I find it quite hard to do because it is so difficult to bend my knee. I try my best to do exercises but am struggling with the pain and stiffness of the knee. I take Paracetamol, Codien and the Dr prescribed oral morphine but none seem to work.
 

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