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Bilateral TKR 2 years out and facing up to facts

I don’t know if this will help, but a similar thing happened to me one month out. I woke up to a sharp pain on the outside of my right knee when I tried to stand, I was rolled to the bathroom when needed, and spent 3 days in bed, with constant ice machines and elevation. On the 3rd morning, it was mysteriously gone! Never found out what exactly happened- probably overdid it.
I am sorry that you’re experiencing this after the high of your successful time underwater. Hopefully this is just a bump in the road.
 
Ghostpipe, I hope you will feel better soon. Hopefully it is just another bump on this rollercoaster ride we are on. If ice and elevation don’t help over the weekend, definitely see your surgeon. Sending You healing thoughts and prayers.
:console2:
 
So sorry to hear about this setback. I hope that ice and elevation work for you.
 
Thank you for your kind words. I am less worried today, because it got slightly better overnight, which it wouldn’t have done if it were something really serious. Glad that I saved a couple of Tramadol so was able to sleep. One left for tonight! It’s back to week 3 for the one leg, lurching from bed to wall to basin etc. for nocturnal bathroom trips. Oh the nostalgia.
Sadly one of my neighbours passed this morning, so no rest today, been supporting her elderly husband of 60 years.
Hope this clears up as soon as yours did, Tao.
 
It’s good to have a stash of “just in case” pain pills on this bumpy ride. Especially since it seems to always happen on weekends.
 
Hoping this is a temporary setback.
Glad to hear you are slightly improved though!
 
Sorry about your neighbor! While it is commendable to be there to help, remember you owe your knee a debt, too, so don’t overdo or you will set yourself back. You have to be in good shape yourself before you can be of use to others.
 
How is your knee doing that all of a sudden locked up on you a few weeks ago? I have followed your thread and you seem to be doing very well. Hopefully it was a temporary glitch and you are back to diving again.

After 9 weeks, what PT exercises did you do? I am at 9 weeks and trying to find the perfect balance of exercising knee without it being sore and extra puffy that evening and maybe next day. I thought I was doing well using my elliptical and treadmill but I think they are doing more aggravating knee than strengthening it.

Such a strange recovery. There seems to be no way to speed the process up with extra exercise but still you "kneed" to maintain some muscle strength in legs so they don't turn into painless noodles.
 
Thankfully, with rest, the awful pain in my knee slowly subsided and has now gone. I lost a bit of confidence with activity, but it’s now back and have been for a dive today. My legs felt stronger this time, although I haven’t been very active due to the knee strain, illustrating that I am still healing.
On the subject of exercise, I was literally terrified of losing strength, ROM etc. in the early days. I am one of those people who refuse to grow old gracefully, I’ve always been slim, fit and sporty, and have spent my retirement undertaking gruelling journeys around the globe on diving trips, and the thought of not being capable of tackling anything the sea throws at me on four dives a day, let alone surviving 36+ of travel, was devastating.
Having tortured myself both physically and mentally for the first three months after my TKRs, it was a relief to finally give in to the Bonesmart way and stop formal exercise. At 6 months down the line, I can see the sense in it completely, although I have struggled with guilt at not doing enough. Trying to keep fit and strong with such damage in the biggest and most complex joints in the body is a real challenge, and to be honest, any effort to do so which uses the knees excessively is counterproductive. It re-injures freshly healing tissue, and just causes swelling and pain.. I found this out the hard way, many times.
I have long since settled into accepting that normal daily activity is indeed enough for new knees, with more challenging activities added as pain and swelling decrease. That’s not to say that it’s wise to let the rest of you go to pot!
Ever since I started sleeping properly, at about 3 months, I slowly started exercising my upper body, core, calf and hip muscles and hamstrings at the gym, in fact anything that doesn’t strain my knees, or hurt them. I am just about as strong as I was beforehand now, and any missing strength in my quads is unnoticeable.
I haven’t done any walking as exercise for weeks now, it’s been way too hot here, but have just started a couple of times a week, and started to go up and downstairs at least twice an hour. That’s my new quad regime.
On a good day, if it it weren’t for the impact hurting, I feel strong enough to run, jump, in fact do virtually anything.
So glad that I found this forum and spared myself months of painful exercises.
 
Here’s my 6.5 month update. I am concerned as to how to report, as I don’t want to discourage others nor give unrealistic expectations. So I’ll just tell it how it is for me.
On the plus side:
I walk downstairs naturally at long last. It’s not comfortable, but not painful. Still resort to crab style sometimes.
I can walk fast, even had a very short jog today, and have run upstairs a few times. It’s not graceful and athletic though!
I go to the gym, dive, can keep active almost all day with a couple of rests, no more elevation nor icing.
Generally feel as strong as before my ops., although I am still hesitant with picking up, pushing or pulling heavy things.
On the downside:
The aching and discomfort gets me down. I am rarely unaware of my knees.
Squatting deeply and getting up from sitting still hurts.
I still have random pains, have had shin pain for a couple of months now which stops me from walking briskly for longer than about 15 minutes. So it’s rowing, the elliptical or exercise bike, all of which bore me to tears!!
I still feel that my old knees were better than these new ones, probably would have left it for another couple of years were it not for covid restricting travel and everything else this year.
Standing still on the spot for lengthy periods is most uncomfortable, ok if I can move around.

So all in all, I am nearly back to normal life, continue to improve, but still having ups and downs, good days and bad, optimism and pessimism in equal measure. Roll on the magic year mark!!!
 
@ski_bum asked me about my ROM, didn’t want to hijack somebody else’s thread so will reply here.
I am not the best person to compare ROM with, as mine has always been very good, which is why I didn’t mention it in my update.
Sometimes, the heel on one leg is within an inch of my backside when lying flat, within 3 on the other. It’s been like that for a couple of months. My OS said that, due to my implants, that this is about the maximum achievable and I should never attempt to sit on my heels as I could dislocate. That’s a bit disappointing, as that was one thing that I missed with my old arthritic knees.
There were two times when my ROM increased exponentially. The first was at about 16 weeks when I got really dispirited, gave up and just sat around with my legs in the air for three days. The second was a couple of months ago when I spent a day and a half in bed in hospital, when I first reached my alleged maximum. Just goes to prove that it’s swelling and inflammation that’s the problem.
Now, I check it every morning through habit when I first wake up. Today, it’s not so good, tomorrow may be back to maximum. There doesn’t seem to be a pattern related to usage during the previous day. It gets worse as the day progresses,
What I did learn early on was that forcing the bend through repetitive exercises didn’t work, and my ROM got to where it is all by itself.
 
Ghostpipe said:
@ski_bum asked me about my ROM, didn’t want to hijack somebody else’s thread so will reply here.
I am not the best person to compare ROM with, as mine has always been very good, which is why I didn’t mention it in my update.
Sometimes, the heel on one leg is within an inch of my backside when lying flat, within 3 on the other. It’s been like that for a couple of months. My OS said that, due to my implants, that this is about the maximum achievable and I should never attempt to sit on my heels as I could dislocate. That’s a bit disappointing, as that was one thing that I missed with my old arthritic knees.
There were two times when my ROM increased exponentially. The first was at about 16 weeks when I got really dispirited, gave up and just sat around with my legs in the air for three days. The second was a couple of months ago when I spent a day and a half in bed in hospital, when I first reached my alleged maximum. Just goes to prove that it’s swelling and inflammation that’s the problem.
Now, I check it every morning through habit when I first wake up. Today, it’s not so good, tomorrow may be back to maximum. There doesn’t seem to be a pattern related to usage during the previous day. It gets worse as the day progresses,
What I did learn early on was that forcing the bend through repetitive exercises didn’t work, and my ROM got to where it is all by itself.
Click to expand...
Thank You so Much. My friend has had both knees done, 1 full 1 half. He can sit on his heels. So When I was in the Hot Tub I was on my knees and bending towards my heels. After about three times doing that exercise, I now have had 2 days with pain. Thanks again but I learnt the hard way but agree with you. I'm 4 months today.
 
Great update Ghostpipe. I am not far behind you in recovery around 5 and a half months. Like you I am back to normal activities but not without discomfort I am probably at the same point as I was pre knee operation. Still cannot gauge what causes good and bad days which is frustrating. I still ice on a evening when I come home form work. My knee does not feel quite natural yet but last Sunday I prepared tea and for 45 minutes forgot about my knee, that's the first time in over 5 years. At this moment I will take that. Bonesmart helps me tremendously I know I am not alone in this long recovery journey. I hope you keep improving and returning to normality.
 
For the last three months I have been having trouble with what would appear to be ITB tendinitis, at the first three inches of the upper lateral side of my shin. I am vaguely aware of it when just moving around, but it starts hurting with brisk walking. Doesn’t hurt with rowing nor on the elliptical, nor with anything else except walking. My IT band is not tight.
I’m getting fed up with this as, other than this, my knees are suddenly quite good. I don’t know if I should be doing anything about this, or just waiting for it to settle down.
My OS was disinterested at my 6 month X-ray and check up, didn’t seem to recognise it as a problem.
Any ideas?
 
Nearly eight months out, and have an issue which is worrying me.
At 5.5 months, I had a sudden vicious pain in medial side of knee when I stood up one evening. Couldn’t put any weight on that leg initially, nor straighten it. With RICE, it went over a few days, and I put it down to one of those random things that happen. But last week, 2 months later, it happened again, just with a couple of steps across the kitchen! Took a complete day off the next day, RICE again, and two days later was ok to go go to the gym and walk the dogs over rough ground.
A week later, after being back to normal, it has happened again, just with a couple of casual steps. This time it was worse, kept hurting every time I moved in the night, and couldn’t put weight on it first thing in the morning. RICE yesterday, could only hobble around with a bent knee. Bit better today. Sore to the touch next to patella, medial side.
Please, can anybody tell me what this could be? I feel now that I am never going to be able to trust this knee. I could understand it if it happened after vigorous excercise, but that doesn’t do it. The movement that causes it is so subtle that I can’t tell what it is.
Should I approach my OS, or a different kind of doctor?
 
Ps. I have spent hours reading old threads of problem knees, and can’t find anything that matches.
 
@Ghostpipe Sorry you are having an issue with that knee. Since this is not brought on by activity I would approach your OS - if only to ease your mind.

Have you had any physio? Could you gait be slightly off causing that knee to twist slightly?
 
No physio, but I go to the gym. The weird thing is that I can walk fine over uneven, rocky ground with the dogs, which twists my legs and feet in different directions, no ill effects from that so far.
 
@Ghostpipe It almost sounds like the pain I had after an arthroscopy on my knee called Pes Anserine Bursitis. The pain is sharp and definitely a 9-10 on the scale. I would just buckle under the pain. I would call my OS.
 
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