TKR Searing pain when trying to straighten - 8 weeks post op

Look back at Susieshoes post, month 2-4 is the hardest. Very true and accurate. It takes while for muscles to regain strength. Your physical therapist is being hard on you, ask him how many total knee patient he has treated with all your other issues. He should be treating ALL of you! Bilateral plantar fasciitis , nerve compression in your back. I have had them all before. As for sleep, this is what I did. Only a suggestion: I mentally set my self, there is 24 hours in a day, when I slept , I slept , when I was a awake, I was awake, it didn’t matter. I was not any any schedule. My baby knee converted me to a baby ! You will recovery, and be fine!

Thank you Mutti3. My Physio is very experienced and is trying all sorts of things. He isn’t pushing me too far I don’t believe and just gives me things to do that I can handle. I only see him once a week or once a fortnight as he is very expensive. Can I ask how you dealt with the plantar fasciitis and the nerve root compression? I’m icing my feet, using an iced golf ball abs my hubby is massaging feet every night plus I’m wearing insets. It’s been 4 weeks since it started ‘again’ and no improvement. Physio is only treating swelling and pain in knee and there is never enough time to treat anything else in 1/2 hour.

It’s okay to rant. You’re feeling frustrated with your recovery, and in pain, so have every reason to rant.

It is early days, yes, but a visit to the surgeon sounds like a good idea. He can make certain the implant is in good working order and maybe adjust your physio. To me it sounds like you may be doing way too much activity. Pool work 5-6 days a week is a lot. Is this pool work what you are doing with your physio, or is that in addition? What do you do on your own at home?

I think the question is whether your problem is one of pain and swelling, or one of strength only. If your knee is swelling and painful, and that’s what is causing you not to be able to walk well, then you need to rest the knee until it can function better. You would be treating the swelling in that case by resting, icing, and elevating the leg. If the problem is weakness, though, you might need a different kind of therapy.

Did you try resting more and doing less exercise (no physio) for a few weeks to see if that made your knee happier? It could very well be that your knee is simply overworked. That can happen. After all, it’s tempting to think that if a little exercise isn’t getting the job done, more might do the trick. Physical therapists often have this view, too, and it can be difficult to push back and say, “I’ll just rest the knee.”

Thanks SusiesShoes, it was my choice to go to pool so often as it made me feel good to be weightless, and being able to walk in a pool without collapsing was wonderful. The pool is now closed for maintenance and it will be interesting to see if I will improve. I really don’t do that much exercising Susie, I work 2-3 hours broken up into 2session at my desk and I do the occasional exercises as I think of it. I haven’t tried doing nothing as I feel it will make things worse (My body is incredible stiff when only resting for 5 mins and needs a while to unstiffen when I get up out of the chair). I am icing, elevating and also massaging as much and often as possible. Strength in my knee is quite reasonable (he tested it yesterday) and he is simply baffled as to why I wobble so much and the knee jerks backward.
 
I think you are pushing your baby knee way too much. Working out in a pool is added resistance and just like using weights. Your knee is too young for that. Try backing off all PT, and out of the water, for a month. Let your normal daily activities around the house be your PT. It has worked for thousands of us!

Wow I hope I can be that patient. I don’t do a lot of housework. I’m blessed with a hubby who vacuums, mops, walks the dogs etc for me. I might cook a meal but that is it as I’m simply not up to doing anything else. I feel if I stopped all little stretches and strengthening exercises (maybe 10 mins a day) I’d not be giving myself a fair chance of recovery but maybe you are right.

I think your physio is being way too impatient and is expecting you to do too much.

Quite honestly, I think it's completely unnecessary to be going to the pool so often - once a week would be enough - and you are being encouraged to try and do too much. Your knee is still only a baby and it needs rest and gentle treatment, so it can continue to heal.
It's wounded, not lazy and unfit, and it doesn't need to be exercised so much.

Doing what your physio recommends hasn't worked, so why keep on doing it? Why not try a change of tactics and give your knee a break from both physio and all the exercising.

Just use your knee normally, for your activities of daily living.

Hi Celle, my Physio isn’t telling me to go to pool every day, it was my choice but he does commend it. I will slow down after all your comments and just go about things without too much exercising. However I think I should still try and walk my 600 metres every day if I’m up to it, don’t you all agree I need to build up strength?

Thank you all for replying. You are all a wonderful bunch xx :thankyou::roseshwr:
 
don’t you all agree I need to build up strength?
The answer to that is yes, but later. First you need to heal more. Your body is not weak, as in out of shape, it’s weak because it was injured in a surgery that causes a lot of trauma to a body.
 
You are doing everything for your plantar fasciitis.As far as the nerve compression, I don’t know if you can get on the floor yet, Pilates type exercise help strengthen the core . I have had both problems at separate times, but all together must Be miserable. Time healed those problems. I didn’t realized your therapy session in Australia were 1/2 hour. Thank you for expanding my knowledge.
 
However I think I should still try and walk my 600 metres every day if I’m up to it, don’t you all agree I need to build up strength?
Actually, walking is the very best thing you can do for a new knee. After all, that's what they're built to do! Let your knee be your guide. If you walk and then that night or the next day your knee hurts, then cut back a little for a week or so, then try again. This walking, in itself will build up strength in your knee. It's too early in your recovery to worry about strengthening your knee, it has to heal first. You don't want to set your healing back by doing too much too soon!
 
Walking is the best exercise! It works the knee joint gently and strengthens all the muscles involved with the knee, which leads to greater stability and so less strain and pain. Just listen to your knee when it comes to how far or often to walk. If your knee swells at night and you end up in pain, cut back on your walking for a bit until it settles down. Eventually you will find you can walk as far as you please, and faster, too.

The beauty of walking as an exercise for rehabbing TKR knees is that it is gentle, exercises all the muscles, and free. You can do it on your own schedule and you don’t need any special equipment.
 
mh.jpeg


Thought I’d share what my knee looks like 3 months post operatively. I apply my Bepanthen silicone cream and roller applicator every day. I use Bio oil twice a day and also Arnica and Vit E cream. It’s still rather angry and looks how I feel.

The numb patch laterally hasn’t shrunken so far either but I’m still hopeful to get some feeling back into the skin eventually. Today my pain levels were very doable, so a rather happy day for me. I’m sitting in my grandpa chair with my hot pack in my back and ice on my knee. :flabber:

We are heading to a new housesit next month which is on flatter ground so bike riding will be a real possibility for me woohoo.

I stopped walking 2 days ago so being a good girl and truly am giving myself a break. Let’s see, I have my fingers and toes crossed.

Not being at home around my own things has made this situation so much harder for me, but I am grateful that although we had to stop travelling we have managed to get some really nice housesits for the remainder of the year.


Thanks @Mutti3 Pilates would be good for me I’m sure but I need to wait for my back to calm down and for the knee to strengthen.

How long are Physio sessions in the US? I’m paying for this privately with health insurance only covering a small portion. However we are leaving here soon and I will be referred to a public hydro therapy session from the end of May which I and also my purse is very much looking forward to.
 
I had about 20 out patient therapy sessions. Initially, total therapy time was usually 1/1/2 -2 hours. 3 times a week. This included all therapeutic exercises, massages, and icing. It decreased in time as I progressed, it
was never less than an hour. In the US , I have Medicare coverage. I had no charge for my PT sessions according to the plan I have. I was discharged from PT at 7 weeks post operative. Now I do daily walks as weather permits, floor exercise daily to strength core, legs, and stretching.
 
I’m impressed with what was offered to you and very disappointed with our system. If I had opted to be a public patient through Medicare and not use my health insurance I would have been on a 4 month wait list according to my specialist and then received intensive Physio post-operatively at our local hospital and because I had complications I would have also qualified for rehabilitation at yet another hospital.

Because I opted to go private to get in quicker and was ‘too young’ to qualify for rehabilition my insurance company wanted to have me assessed first by various doctors before agreeing to expensive rehabilitation but I was over it by then and went home. From there I arranged everything privately and have had Physio exactly 7 times in 3 + months. Very different system and in Europe it’s very different yet again.
 

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