1. what are your pain levels right now? 1 to 2 usually, except when walking. When I walk, my pain goes up to a 5 or 6.
Gotcha
2. what pain medications have you been prescribed, how much are you taking (in mg please) and how often?
Tramadol- 50 mg, 1 or 2 tablets 4x a day (prescribed), but now I only take one 50mg tablet now once or twice as needed (especially after I walk). Tylenol 1,000 mg 4x a day. Ibuprofen 400 mg 3x a day
Not bad but I'd suggest you take a Tramadol
before you go for a walk.
3. how often are you icing your knee and for how long? 3 or 4 times a day, more if needed, for 45 minutes to an hour. (In addition to icing my knee, I ice my buttocks area at the same time for recently diagnosed piriformis syndrome on same side)
4. are you elevating your leg, how often and for how long? When I ice, I elevate, so 3 or times a day, sometimes more. I also elevate when I am sitting downstairs in my home and I elevate at night before I go to sleep.
For my piriformis, I sat on ice packs all the time - blissful!
5. What is your ROM - that's flexion (bend) and extension (straightness) I was last measured about 10 days ago at 120 degrees flexion and 2 degrees extension, I know my extension is almost zero now.
Jolly good!
6. what is your activity level? What do you do in the way of housework, cooking, cleaning, shopping, etc.,
My activity level each day includes:
1. Walking my dog in the morning for ½hour. My driveway is on a slant and it hurts me more to walk down the driveway than to walk up it.
2. When I shop, I use a motorized cart at the store and I only pick up a few items two or three times a week. My husband is still doing the major shopping.
3. I do laundry, usually 1 load a day which is upstairs at the bedroom level of my home. I usually fold the clothes while sitting on the bed. I put all of the clothing away, which means I am walking around upstairs where the bedrooms are located.
4. I spend time in the kitchen each day making my breakfast and lunch and sometimes I help my husband with dinner. I am on my feet for each of those no longer than 10 - 15 minutes at a time.
5. My home is on two levels so I normally take the stairs about 4 or 5 times a day. I walk up and down using just the railings.
6. Cleaning - I don't do anything too strenuous yet, no vacuuming. I do things like loading or emptying the dishwasher, light dusting. Nothing that keeps me on my feet for more than 10 -15 minutes at a time a few times a day.
I have not used my cane at home for about 2 weeks now. I do use it when I am out and about because of curbs, parking lots, etc. and in my driveway.
Considering you are only 6 weeks out, you're doing far too much. I'm made some suggestions on amendments. And if you have pain you should use a cane!
My comments in
bold
<start>PT/exercises
Every day, three times a day I am massaging my scar for two or three minutes each time.
-
this is unnecessary. It makes no difference to your scar whatsoever and might even cause an inflammatory response. Massage post THR
do your exercises once a day
At home, on days I don't have PT, I only do light stretching and I use a towel to do calf stretches and tighten quads. I do 2 sets, 5 reps per set,
3 times a day.
passive hamstring stretch
3 times a day for about 10 minutes each
For my piriformis syndrome, I use a foam roller on my buttocks 2 x a day and I do stretches laying down in bed 3 or 4 times a day.
I have PT 2 or 3 times a week (Mon/Wed/Fri or Tues/Thurs) alternating. (I refuse to do PT two days in a row, I feel I do not have enough time to recover if I do it every day) -
good!
At this time (today was six weeks post surgery), my PT routine each time is:
1. 10 minutes of heat to warm up my knee and leg front and back
2. On the table, on my back, 2 sets of buttocks lifts with knees bent, 15 reps each
3.
On the table, on my stomach, straight lift leg off table about 8 inches and hold for 5 count, 2 sets, 15 reps each -
this exercise is contributing to your knee pain: stop it
4. On the table, laying on my back, with a 55cm ball, with both feet on the ball, walk it up to my buttocks and hold for 5, walk it back to full leg extension and hold for 5. 2 sets, 15 reps each
5. Recumbent bicycle, 5 or 6 minutes, with varying degrees of resistance (pre-programmed). I just started using resistance the last two sessions. Before that it was 5 minutes, no resistance at my own pace. -
no resistance yet, maybe in week 8 or 10
6. Leg presses using both legs at once, 2 sets of 15 reps,
increased to 40 lbs this week (up 5 lbs from last week) - do -
no weights, it's much too early and contributing to your knee pain
7. Standing calf raises, 2 sets, 15 reps each
8. Practice walking the past two weeks with heel to toe, cane and no cane, just for about 2 minutes. Up until last week, I had been dragging my leg a little bit and turning out my toes.
9. Rest back on the table with ice and elevation for 10 to 15 minutes. I go home and ice and elevate more after that as well.<end>
Hi Linda Thanks for your nice post. Hope you are having a nice painfree day. I think it took a few weeks for the back of my knee to calm down. I had that feeling before surgery to couldn't let the back of it touch anything laying down very painful. The surgery area was very sensitive to clothes or bedding touching it. Went around with my shorts pinned up to keep them away from it this drove me a bit crazy. My surgeon recommended using vitamin e I used the cream Jamiesons I think and it seemed to help but not till after totally healed up. Made the area feel less dry and soft.
the best and take some time to rest and be kind to yourself you will make it through this with flying colours. Happy to hear you went to the concert and had a nice time 
Holly
). He has to remind me that sometimes I need to lean on others instead of doing it on my own so I am learning to be a little needy.
Hi Linda I am happy your tears were tears of joy sometimes we just need to release and as someone said here tears are a way of our bodies healing itself. I lost my Dad 2 weeks before my surgery. He died after a long 3 year struggle and the the events that took place have been very hard to get past. Died at 85 away from his home and wanted to so much to come home. After a stroke he was placed in a nursing home up North from us an hour drive each way only home available. Cried so much during this time needed to keep an eye on my Mom she had both knees replaced the second one two months before my surgery . Felt guilty when I could not drive for a while as I had to get back to driving to help her get around. My Dad was wonderful strong kind and my Dad was very brave during this so he was my inspiration. I know he was with me during this time and looking out for me.
. Here's a long-distance sloppy kiss from my puppy-dog. He knows just how to make me smile and feel better. The best thing we ever did was to adopt this guy; he was a rescue puppy we got at 5 months old about a month before I had my first TKR.
, my parents are across the country in Arizona, but I am on the phone with them every day. They used to live here in New York state, but moved to AZ ten years ago. It's tough not seeing them often, when they lived here we were only 45 minutes away. My Mom was very ill a few years ago and she went from being a vibrant woman full of life to someone clinging to life in a few short months until she had open heart surgery to repair two valves and atrial fibrillation. It took a long time for her recover and she still sees a heart surgeon and pulmonary doctor. Up until 3 years ago, they would come back to visit and stay for the month of June. We would also go out once or twice a year to see them. After her surgery, they haven't made the trip back. They will be coming next June for my niece's graduation though, so I hope everyone stays healthy.
Oh well, perhaps cutting back on the over-do items Josephine suggested will help to put everything back in balance again.
United States
