I'm in my 12th post op month. As always, "some good, some bad." Mostly good, but I really hoped I'd be through with dealing with specific "problems" at the one year mark. I'd rather just be trying to get my body back into shape, and not be worrying about inflaming various parts of my knee.
The rock climbing has been going great, and doesn't cause problems. I wear heavy (hard cap) protection when climbing outdoors. A light elastic sleeve when climbing indoors.
The walking and hiking feels great most times, but my mileage that I can do in comfort has been slow to increase. I go about five miles before I notice knee "achiness" building up. I've done several 7 mile hikes, and will try a ten miler this month. I have to start carrying some weight at some point, if I'm ever going to go backpacking again.
I believe that my deep/centralized "mystery pain" is probably a bit of flesh impinged in part of the prosthesis. The OS says they can "scope" the knee to trim some junk out, but I think it isn't bad enough to risk another surgery. I'm hoping the nerves in that bit of flesh will die off eventually, and it will stop hurting. It hurts less each month, but and is mostly a bother at night.
I had some problems with that hard/tender bump just above the kneecap that most people end up with. I bought a pulsating jigsaw type massager that really relaxes that area. This is rapidly becoming a non-problem. This is important, because I need to reverse the atrophy that this leg has. Only way to do that is exercises that stress the quads.
I seem to lose range of motion if I don't stretch (quite a bit) every day. Especially for extension. I wonder if this is common for others a year or longer out from surgery? Note: my leg didn't go straight for years before surgery, and I only got full extension in the 8th month post op. I'd appreciate any opinions on this.