PKR 4 hour ice pack myth

[Woodpusher]

I see there's a bunch of us scheduled for today and tomorrow. I'm recovering in the hospital now. He said I was the perfect candidate for a partial. Little pain now, may ask for a pain med.

 

[Jockette]

Welcome to Recovery!

I will leave you our Recovery Guidelines. Each article is short but very informative. Following these guidelines will help you have a less painful recovery.

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
elevate
ice
take your pain meds by prescription schedule (not when pain starts!)
don't overwork.​

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

the BoneSmart view on exercise
BoneSmart philosophy for sensible post op therapy​

5. At week 4 and after you should follow this

Activity progression for TKRs​

6. Access to these pages on the website

Oral And Intravenous Pain Medications
Wound Closure​

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 the 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 the member’s history before providing advice, so please post any updates or questions you have right here in this thread.

 

[Woodpusher]

Thanks for the quick reply. For icing we sprung for Polar Care cold delivery system but they don't seem to be thrilled with that at the hospital. Says there's been lawsuits around people burning the skin. I dunno, I'm going to try it at home. Seems pretty safe, a rugged bladder and I've got layers on the knee of course.

 

[Rick951]

@Woodpusher Welcome to the other side! You now need to do something you are most likely not used to doing. SLOW DOWN!! I had a partial also, at 8 months out I am doing great!! You will get there also, just don't try to rush it. Give yourself permission to take it easy for the first while. In the Hospital I felt great, No pain.

Rick

 

[Woodpusher]

@Rick951, thanks. If anything it's boring here. How was it the 1st few days back home for you?

Ken

 

[Rick951]

@Woodpusher It should have been boring. But, stupid overachieving me had to try for the fastest PKR recovery in history. I pushed to hard, my knee swelled and limited any thought of excess movement. If I had it to do over again, I would not flex past 35 deg till my incision was fully closed. About 2 weeks.
When I first got home. I was able to flex past 90 deg. Because of the pain killers injected into my knee during surgery. I could NOT feel the damage I was doing. Just chill out Ice and elevate. You will be MUCH further along. I had my surgery on October 3rd. I did not find BoneSmart till December 10th. Experience is the best teacher. Trust the cumulative experience on this board to guide you.

 

[Woodpusher]

@Rick951 , wow, you an athlete? I was playing tennis bone on bone but as soon as the knee became unstable I stopped. So I'm fine not trying to come back right away. Maybe house and yard work will seem like too much, we'll see .

Ken

 

[Rick951]

@Woodpusher No, Not an athlete, used to be. Just overly competitive, even with myself......
The saying here"slow and steady wins the race".
Rick

 

[jenm1970]

Welcome to the recovery side.

I had a bilateral PKR done 3/5. My recovery has been slow and I’ve had set backs including a MUA. Now that I found this forum, I don’t feel so alone along my path to healed. There is a plethora of info here and wonderful people at all stages of recovery and all types of recovery. Let your knee guide you, what I’ve learned here is don’t do something that hurts and don’t let anyone else do something that hurts you.

Take care

 

[sistersinhim]

Says there's been lawsuits around people burning the skin.

People get burned when they don't use it properly and without a cloth between the bladder and their skin. I iced the whole time I was down for the first month or so.

 

[Woodpusher]

As promised, surgery day plus 2 brings pain as the nerve block wears off. Oxy, here we come.

 

[Jockette]

Don’t do any exercises that increase your pain level, that would be counterproductive.

 

[Woodpusher]

@Jockette, thanks for that. I wasn't sure about the exercises in the walker that promote flexion. Those would be pretty hard now I think.

Ken

 

[Jockette]

Keep in mind:

It’s not exercising that gets our range of motion back, it’s Time:

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. Exercise as in strength training is counter-productive and in the early weeks does more harm than good. Normal activity is the key to success.

 

[Rockgirl4]

@Woodpusher I feel your Day 2 pain!! I'm glad you had some pain-free time with the nerve block though. I'm also using the Breg Polar Cube for cold therapy. It isn't as cold as I'd hoped, but it's ok. I've been adding a gel-pack under the knee for extra cooling, and that tends to feel very good.

My in-home PT lady came today and wasn't worried yet about flexion. I had 68 degrees today with severe pain, and had 70 yesterday at the hospital with no pain. I considered that improvement, as no one was forcing it. I agree though---your swollen knee won't bend much at this point due to the swelling.

As for boredom, I haven't had a chance to get bored yet. I've been too loopy from the Oxy and anesthesia. I'm glad I can sleep through some of this discomfort though. I hope your pain eases in the next couple of days. It will be interesting to see how we all progress.

 

[Woodpusher]

@Rockgirl4 , oxycodone is controlling the pain so far. As for flexion, I was 80 in the hospital and 60 at home today without pushing to hard. We won't make this a competition

 

[Rockgirl4]

@Woodpusher Completely agree---no competition here for me either. Not with myself or anyone else!!

 

[jenm1970]

What a great thread! We all heal at our own rate. I had both of my knees partially replaced on March 5, 2019. Both of the knees are recovering at a different rate. I found this forum a little over a week ago and have been thankful every day since! I still have quite a bit of pain and swelling but I feel that’s because for the past 2+ months I’ve been going to physical therapy twice a week and letting them crank on my knees, along with the at home exercises. Also, I had an MUA on April 26, both knees . I now am gentle with my knees and only doing what I can. In the last week I’ve done more than the past two months. I don’t know if that’s from stepping back from physical therapy or time, either way I am feeling good.

 

[Woodpusher]

Whoa, night time is a different animal! I must have have unknowingly done too much work during the day. Now its to where I can't find a comfortable position for the knee let alone try to sleep. How much oxy is too much? Could use another round but don't want to take more than the recommended 2 every 4 hours. And this is only a PKR!

 

[Rick951]

@Woodpusher You have reached one of the difficult parts of recovery. Ice and elevate to pass the time. This will pass! When I was at the stage you are now. I kept asking myself, what have I gotten myself into???? What have I done????? This is just one phase of recovery. In the end you WILL look back, and it will all have been worth it!
Hang in there! You have a lot of support here!
Rick