TKR TKR Progress

Portions of my incision skin also moves freely when rubbed, but not all. The lower portion of the incision is where I sometimes feel a little pull or pinch when I rub it. I don’t feel the incision is inhibiting my ROM, so do you think what I am describing is just a little scar tissue?
Hey @Odieodell, I still have that same sensation when I rub the incision on the new knee. The full incision moves over the underlying structures but feels weird. I also still feel some knots in places along the incision that I assume are scars but not the bad kind (not adhesions) that prevent mobility and ROM. The 7yo knee does not feel the same so I guess it resolves over time.

Here's a great post on the difference between scar tissue and adhesions (the explanation starts in the middle): https://bonesmart.org/forum/threads/mua-manipulation-under-anaesthetic-and-adhesions.3656/
 
It takes a while to get back to full ROM. When I got my injury, it took me a whole 6 months of PT to get back into cycling.
 
I’m approaching 11 weeks post-op this Thursday. I stopped doing formal PT on 5/16 and stopped doing at home PT on 5/24. I’ve not seen any real noticeable gains in flexion, but I know the tissue pain is less as is the swelling. We went to church yesterday and my knee didn’t bother me while standing during the music. :yes!:

My knee is healing as a few weeks ago I had to sit down during the music. I often feel some pain behind my knee when bending it which I believe is mainly from my LCL. I suspect this may be due to my extension returning to zero. I had walked over a year with a -30 degree bend. I’m sure my golfing stretches that ligament too. Today, I thought maybe I’m not doing enough through my daily activities to improve my flexion, so I decided to peddle on our recumbent bike. I didn’t feel stretch as much as I felt that same pain behind the knee, so I didn’t do more than about 12 rotations. I don’t feel it will help me because of where I’m feeling pain, so I’m not going to continue doing it.

All in all, I have been very happy with my recovery. I generally have no pain when walking except after sitting for a long period of time and then the pain behind the knee just has to be walked out. I’ve been sleeping great again, since around week 7, which has been wonderful too. I’ll gladly take small gains over pain throughout the year as I continue to heal.

Do surgeons typically do periodic exams throughout the year following TKR? I had my first post-op on May 19, but I cancelled the MUA he scheduled, so I’m wondering if he will request to see me after a year.
 
Mine saw me at 6 weeks, 6 months, and 1 year. I could have gone at 5 years but saw no reason to.

Many of us had that pain behind the knee. You can ice that, too, just like the front of your knee. I found that it helped me.
 
I had a lot of stiffness when I would sit with my knee bent after my first TKR. The second, not so much. Each knee recovery is different, even with two knees on the same person!

I wanted to say I had a CPM machine for my recovery on my first knee but didn't with the second. I don't think it made a difference either way.

Your recovery is going great! I'm glad you resisted getting the MUA. I don't think you needed it.
 
Do surgeons typically do periodic exams throughout the year following TKR? I had my first post-op on May 19, but I cancelled the MUA he scheduled, so I’m wondering if he will request to see me after a year.
I saw my OS for my 6 week check up Monday and am schedule for another follow up in 6 weeks .... but he also offered the MUA which I will decline so I think he is just wanting yo see my ROM is improving
 
Follow up appointments vary from surgeon to surgeon. I saw mine at
2 weeks,
6 weeks,
10 weeks,
18 weeks,
7 months.

He wanted to see me again at 10 months but I talked him into waiting until the one year anniversary.

Looking back, I honestly suspect he had little experience with the partial he did on me and had me keep coming back so he could check my progress. He aggressively measured my ROM at all but the last two appointments when I refused to let him push it. I will not go back to him again.
 
Do surgeons typically do periodic exams throughout the year following TKR?
iirc, I checked-in with my OS at 4 weeks, 3 months and 6 months. I have another scheduled for 1 yr. I think the cadence depends on the surgeon, the surgery and the condition of the knee (pre-op and post-op). He's already seen me more for my RTKR than the left.

The stationary bike is a great therapy tool. Keep trying it, even if you can only rock back and forth, but stop if it causes pain and try again in a few days. With my 1st knee it took quite a while to comfortably do a rotation. With the 2nd, I did full rotations quicker and I've relied on it more for stretching and building stamina this time around.
 
Do surgeons typically do periodic exams throughout the year following TKR?
My surgeon's approach was a bit different. He saw me at 2 weeks, then at 2 months. Then said he doesn't need to see me until my 1-year anniversary --- unless I have problems. I assume that, if I wasn't recovering appropriately he would have scheduled another check up in between 8 weeks and one year.
 
I’m wondering since I canceled my MUA if he’ll schedule me for any further post-op appointments. The old saying, “out of sight, out of mind” comes to my mind. I guess it doesn’t matter as long as I feel I’m progressing.
 
I’m wondering since I canceled my MUA if he’ll schedule me for any further post-op appointments.
Even if you don't hear from his office, you will want to do a follow up at some point -- probably at one year -- so he can take X-rays and make sure everything looks good.

By then, your ROM will be great so you won't have any reason not to go! :wink:
 
Today is 12 weeks since my surgery. Overall I am happy with it as 90% of the time I have no pain and have been able to golf this summer. I finally believe I may have reached zero extension as I can feel the back of my knee touching surfaces when laying down. However, my flexion is still only at about 95 and I will say that I’m somewhat discouraged about that. I would love to be able and ride my bike, but know it isn’t possible or safe for me. I still don’t believe the MUA the doctor wanted to do would’ve help me. I’ve read of many posts where the gain is only short term from them. My problem most likely is that I rarely rest and never ice the knee anymore. I know it still has swelling so it’s bound to take longer to heal due to my activity level. I’m debating if I should start trying PT exercises again to work on flexion.

I still have tissue pain behind the knee. Maybe it’s my LCL or popliteus tendinitis. My knee hasn’t been completely straight since 2007. I probably had a -5 degree extension up until January 2021 when it got worse and I ended up with a -30 extension. I suspect all this behind the knee tissue is stretching out creating the soreness. I’m sure my golf factors into it as well.

The small piece of scar tissue I kept feeling, finally seems to have broken loose, so that is good. The incision looks great, but I sometimes I still can sense it.

So for now my TKR tradeoff is extension gain versus flexion loss. I’m hoping it will eventually come back, but no gain in 8 weeks is still concerning.
 
I’m debating if I should start trying PT exercises again to work on flexion.

My problem most likely is that I rarely rest and never ice the knee anymore. I know it still has swelling so it’s bound to take longer to heal due to my activity level.
I think you get enough bending motion in all your daily activities. Adding more exercises to that could just increase the swelling you have which will not help your ROM.

Maybe try sleeping at night with your legs elevated, and maybe ice then, you’re just laying in bed anyway, so you could accomplish 3 things at once.
Today is 12 weeks since my surgery. Overall I am happy with it as 90% of the time I have no pain and have been able to golf this summer. I finally believe I may have reached zero extension
This is excellent! No pain and able to do the thing you love is why you had the surgery. This is a year long recovery and 12 weeks is only 25% healed. You will heal more and eventually be able to ride your bike.

Enjoy your golf, and stop worrying about your ROM. It‘s only one aspect of this recovery. My ROM continued to improve all through my second year. Where you are now is not where you will end up.

You’re doing great! :flwrysmile:
 
Today is 12 weeks since my surgery. However, my flexion is still only at about 95 and I will say that I’m somewhat discouraged about that. My problem most likely is that I rarely rest and never ice the knee anymore. I know it still has swelling so it’s bound to take longer to heal due to my activity level. I’m debating if I should start trying PT exercises again to work on flexion.
12 weeks is really early and you are doing great! It took me 12 months to reach 120 degrees of flexion but I reached over 140 in my second year of recovery. Adding PT to your already very busy schedule for 12 weeks would probably be detrimental. You don't need more work to achieve more flexion, you need more time to allow your body to continue to heal, flexion will come all on it's own with as active as you are.
 
I know it still has swelling so it’s bound to take longer to heal due to my activity level. I’m debating if I should start trying PT exercises again to work on flexion.
If you are already overdoing your activity why add PT exercises to it. That's even more activity to add to the swelling that will hurt that bend. You're already doing some of the things you love so don't worry about the bend, it's the function that counts.
 
Jockette sistersinhim FCBayern thank you for your positive and encouraging responses. I’m really surprised all of you feel that my ROM will return despite no gains in 8 weeks. I certainly hope you are all correct. While I expect it will improve by 5 or 10 degrees, do you actually think it could return to 120, which is where I was prior to surgery or possibly maybe better?

I was thinking if I don’t have any gains by September, I would go see the surgeon. Would that make sense to all of you?
 
@Odieodell i have the same surgery date! So we are knee buddies. I also have a very busy “back to normal” life. I am 100% back to pre surgery life except in exercise. I just read through your thread and noticed you said you aren’t really icing anymore. Here’s just a little observation I’ve had : my ROM fluctuates on the daily. Some days I can descend my stairs normally (hold rail just in case) and other days I take 1 at a time. Some days my ROM is 85 and other days it’s 105 without pushing. Some days I can stand walk for long periods others sitting in a chair bothers it. No two days are the same. What does & has helped is icing and elevating. If I ice 1x during the day the next day I have low ROM if I ice 3x during the day and sleep at night with the ice machine 30 on 30 off until I wake up to pee, my ROM is better the next day. I can’t always work in laying down to ice and elevate in my day- it’s just a fact . And sometimes it’s hard to want to because I am feeling so much better I don’t want to slow down- but this is a marathon recovery and working in breaks to ice and elevate during the day even at 3 months does really help my ROM the next day. Just my observations for being at the same point.
 
While I expect it will improve by 5 or 10 degrees, do you actually think it could return to 120, which is where I was prior to surgery or possibly maybe better?
I absolutely believe you can get back to at least 120. I think that a lot of the reason you are not seeing improvement is the amount of activity you are doing, and as @Samsrf said icing would still help as well. I iced at night at for several months, it definitely helped the swelling I would get by the end of the day. I think if you took 3 days off to elevate and ice you would find that you have more ROM that is being hidden behind the swelling that is inevitable with your level of activity at this point in your recovery. Less is often more in TKR recovery.
 
I know I gained a few degrees after 12 weeks. I think it was just from doing daily things that required me to do some bending because one day I realized I was able to bend more than I could a couple of months before.
 

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