TKR 10 week check up

[Celle]

OK. I apologise for suggesting your PT had threatened you with the suggestion of a MUA. We do hear a lot on here of PTs that use that tactic and it always seems most unfair to me.

Just try to think that the "down" time you spend now is an investment in a better long term future for your knee. I know it's hard, but it is worth it.

 

[kneeper]

There's a lot of finding a balance that goes on in a tkr recovery. Move the knee but don't overdo--figuring out what that is can be a trial and error process.

 

[Jamie]

Celle and kneeper are right. You'll hear conflicting information and you have to decide what works for you. We keep recommending a slow-down of your exercise and activity (not a complete stop, though!) because you do indicate continued swelling. The advice is to give this a try for a week or two and see if things improve. Of course, you should be icing and elevating your knee as well, which I'm sure you are.

All you are experiencing is within the range of normal. Some people just have more swelling. It may be that you just have to wait it out. But, to me....it's worth a try to take things a bit easier for a bit and see what happens.

 

[sabbath]

@naynay30 yrs. , are you trying to walk around the house just for a few minutes every hour or so? That does seem to help my movement and loosens it up when it feels tight. I really think that time and some easy movement will make a difference for all of us as we recover.

Roxie

ever time l start hurting ,I walk with my walker of course,I haven't been able to let go of that yet,the moving helps me,I don't go far ,don't have to,L just get up and move and the hurt lets up,

 

[Kansas Teacher]

I agree, @sabbath . The movement helps me out a lot too.

@naynay30 yrs. , I know you feel that your swelling and tightness is excessive but I wonder what your PT says about it. I ask because, honestly, I kept thinking the same thing and when I asked, he said no way. The swelling and tightness you are experiencing is no more, and maybe less, than what most other people experience at this stage. You said you have a very experienced PT and he should have seen many many knees this far along. Does he think you're more swollen and tight than you should be?

Roxie

 

[PolarBear60]

It can be hard to find that balance. Do I move more or less? I'm wondering that with my back for the moment. Will moving work out the kinks, or do I need to rest. Still experimenting.


Jean

LTKR (Stryker Triathlon): 21 April 2015
Right Knee Arthroscopy: 25 July 2006
Left Knee Arthroscopy: 10 February 2005

 

[Josephine]

@Josephine just curious . What is your medical back ground?

You can't guess? You can read it here The History of Bone Smart Forum but for the sake of brevity, here is a snap shot of my career in orthopaedics:

I trained 59-62 at the broken link removed: https://www.nnuh.nhs.uk/page.asp?id=63 and worked for 2 years (a long time in those days!) in the orthopaedic theatre there. The N&N was significant as that was the place where broken link removed: https://www.nnuh.nhs.uk/News.asp?ID=54 and John Watson-Farrar were working on the very first modern concept of a hip replacement. McKee also dallied with knee replacements and I scrubbed for the very first ever knee replacement in 1963 which sadly was a dismal failure.

After that I worked in a wide variety of hospitals up and down the UK, doing joint replacements in many of them as the procedure gained ground, ultimately working at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in London. I also ran a national Orthopaedic Study Days for some years, teaching theatre nurses about orthopaedic procedures and the anatomy.

I am still a Registered Nurse in the UK and did have an Orthopaedic Nursing Certificate but sadly this ceased to exist when the nursing register underwent a massive restructuring in 1975.



Other than many published articles, I have also written a book of orthopaedic surgery ("A Compendium of Orthopaedic Surgery") specifically aimed at theatre nurses but which was also purchased by doctors, radiographers, physiotherapists and ward staff. I had copies of it sold as far abroad as the Channel Islands and the Falklands!

To maintain my knowledge for BoneSmart and my registration, I regularly attended hip and knee conferences where I meet and converse with many surgeons from across the globe who, it may surprise you to learn, are invariably very much aligned with the 'BoneSmart Way'!

I also still work as an occupational health advisor/nurse and regularly get to advise/support patients who have had hip or knee replacements.

As far as the forum activities go, I was a member of the moderating team on a large forum for about 3 years, ultimately becoming training manager for 150 staff and thereby learned a great deal about administrating a vBulletin forum from a top level.

My concern is the stiffness is caused from scar tissue and doc will have to do a manipulation. even tho I'm at 118 ROM.

Listen to me, sweetie - surgeons ONLY do MUAs on knees that <90 degrees.

I'm just concerned because my knee is so stiff and won't bend much when I walk

Feeling stiff and being stiff are two different things. A knee with 118 degrees of flexion is not stiff but it can feel stiff if you have unmedicated pain in it which it appears you have. So I suggest you start taking 1,000mg of Tylenol 4 times a day.

I want my ROM bk to 135 as I was very active.

What you want and what you get may be two different things but you're only 12 weeks out yet so plenty of time to improve. With my first knee I didn't get to 120 until 6 months out. The trick is not to worry about it so much !! Time will get you what you want, fussing over things won't. Get it?

 

[naynay30 yrs.]

7 weeks last Friday.
Seems like everyone in the nail shop either had a knee replacement or scope. The gal next to me husband had his done 7-8 wks ago and after blood wk and X-rays found an infection. No fever!
So thurs they r taking his knee out and starting over!
I'm freaked because his symptoms are swelling stiffness and pain .
My pain has reduced a lot but knee still swollen and stiff. Yes I'm icing and elevating most of the day and taking meds. I backed off in pt but still doing some stetchs during the day .
This morn knee felt like a block of cement . It loosened up slightly but after sitting on my couch chatting with a friend, ice on my knee, it once again was stiff as a board .
I've emailed my doc asking to do blood work to make sure no infection. I'm afraid all the time something is going to go wrong and I'll never have full use of my knee or have my life back .

 

[Jamie]

You are worrying needlessly! You have a normal recovery going on. The symptoms of infection the guy you heard about were not swelling, stiffness and pain. Those are normal things that someone has with a knee replacement. Second-hand stories like this are always the worst thing to listen to!!! You never get all the facts and the person telling it didn't have the experience. Please let yourself relax! Your body is doing just fine.

 

[Kansas Teacher]

I'm not an administrator like @Jamie is but I agree with her. I think the guy had swelling, stiffness and pain as part of a normal recovery from a TKR. Something else led the OS to suspect an infection and test for it. We all have swelling, stiffness and pain - I still do and I think most people do who are in the early stages like you and I. My friend, I am a worrier too but have finally convinced myself to just take a deep breath and accept the process. To get to a full recovery where we want to be, we have to go through the process and it's not always pleasant along the way.

I hope you can find a way to relax too, my friend. Hugs.

Roxie

 

[referee54]

I was told that I could return to the classroom at eight weeks---and each day I would get up and feel pretty good, but, by 11:00 AM, my knees were stiff, sore, and, by the end of the day, I was exhausted.

I did not get to 80%-85% until six months. I did not get to 90%-95% until eight months!

I had a pesky little limp for close to five months.

I am great now, but the recovery challenged me to find patience that I did not know that I had---and,when I asked my PT's when I would get ot my destination of being fully recovered, they would nod their heads and smile and say, "When your knees are ready for it---you will get there on your knees' schedule, not yours."

I would say that you are doing quite well---there is really nothing you can do to speed things up, but there is (trust me on this) plenty that you can do to slow things down.

Think about it---seven weeks ago, you had two bones sawed off, there was a great deal of filing and pounding, and things were cemented into place and you were finally closed up. There was a great deal of surgical trauma and it will not suddenly disappear.

Please take a look at this article:
Where are you in recovery?? (tkr)

 

[naynay30 yrs.]

Thank you ladies! I always feel better after hearing from some one on here.
I know like most I didn't ever see myself in this position . I know in the big scheme 6mos is not along time.
My only child disappeared for 7 yrs!
If I c an survive that I can easily get thru this!

 

[naynay30 yrs.]

I'm stiff all the time. From morning to nite . Knee loosens up alittle as the day goes on but stiffness is always there. I can see my knee moving further so it is getting better . Just slowwww! Which isn't in my vocabulary ! Guess like @referee54 said its a lesson in patience! Not my strong suit!

 

[Pumpkin]

I am sad to hear what you went through, glad it is over. You are right if you can survive that you can survive anything.

 

[referee54]

If you want to know why your knee is so stiff, then, if you can, take a look at these pictures:
TKR surgery - WARNING: real life photos

As for the patience:

Patience, Grasshopper, Patience!!!

 

[naynay30 yrs.]

No thanx! Knowing is enough for me!
Just like to know if others have constant stiffness at 7 wks?

 

[naynay30 yrs.]

Has anyone had luck with lymphatic massage for reducing swelling??

 

[naynay30 yrs.]

@referee54 I looked at the pics and showed hubby! OMG! My poor knee and poor me! Enough said !!

 

[Celle]

Just like to know if others have constant stiffness at 7 wks?

Jana, how many times do we have to reassure you that everyone still has constant stiffness at 7 weeks?

You're having a perfectly normal recovery.

Stop worrying about what might go wrong, stop listening to other people's horror stories, and try to think instead of the future you will have - you'll be able to do more than you could before, and without that horrible bone-on-bone pain all the time.

Remember the story of the tortoise and the hare? It was the tortoise who won that race.
Slow and steady will win this recovery race, too.

 

[kneeper]

Major surgery=major recovery. very different from a scope. Like my OS told me, tkr can take up to a year to feel "normal." Think in terms of phases of recovery.
AT 7 weeks your knee is a mere toddler.

Sitting with your leg down was definitely one of the major ways to wind up feeling stiff for the first several months. Heck--even when I was back at work in week 12, I'd get stiff sitting. I'd have to get up at least once and hour and walk for a minute to loosen up. Didn't mean I wasn't ready to be back at work, just that I wasn't 100% yet.

LIke Josephine said, *feeling* stiff is normal and is different from a "stiff knee." taking pain meds or at least tylenol does help with that stiff feeling, but lots of it is just plain normal for *months.* Gradually you'll realize that you're less and less stiff. But it doesn't happen overnight.


try to chill--in more ways than one. Hang in there--we get it.