TKR 4th week major backslide?<

Well Friday and Saturday I felt like none of my household walking bothered the knee.

Decided to get a little adventuresome today and went to two craft stores.

No problems, but came home and did a precautionary ice/elevate. A few hours later did a short grocery trip.
 
That’s good. Take it easy tomorrow and see how it feels. Usually if I had a “busy” day one day, I was really careful the next, until I was sure my knee could handle it again.
 
Hi,@plaidwndr
Our right knee replacements were the same day. In fact, the funny thing is that - except for the knee aspirations, my recovery experience has been similar to yours. My flexion was last week graded as 125 and extension was +3, I think. Anyway, I have experienced that same awful tightness after my therapist has pushed my extension exercises and I am just getting up to 10 minutes on the bike. You have armed me with the ammunition to stop this guy next time he pushes it with me. When I told him that the previous Thursday I had been so sore I hadn’t done a single exercise all weekend (and felt better because of it,) he seemed skeptical and just added to my exercise and bike regime. And this week, after three PT sessions in four days, the pain and tightness is much greater again. Shame on me for listening to him instead of my knee.
I am only doing walking around type things this weekend and if the knee is better by Monday then - no big time exercises in PT and I will share my lesson with my therapist and this time I will simply refuse to push.
Please keep us posted. I find it very supportive to hear how you and Diane (@DLR) are doing since your dates of surgery are nearly mine.
It’s sure been a rollercoaster of a ride, no?
Kathy
 
@Kathy0427, I think you just learned the toughest lesson we all face, the realization that WE have a say in what we do for rehab and physical therapy of our knees. PTs are not the ones in pain, they are not the ones who has a knee swollen to the size of a melon. PTs need to be remind who they work for.... US! Not the doctor, not the insurance company, but is, their client! When I first went to PT, I had already been “armed” with insight to the BoneSmart way. My OS was fully on board in agreement. I told the first pt I interviewed what my expectations were and if he wasn’t on board, I would find someone else. Lucky for me, he was “all in”. My PT experience was great. Every time I showed up, the first steps were to ask how my knee felt, a review of how swollen it appeared and always started with slow walking to get it warmed up and loose. If it felt more stiff than usual or showed signs of extra swelling, the session focused on massage and gentle stretches.

Take ownership and walk out if you have to.
 
@Kathy0427 very rollercoaster! I'm still swollen alllllll the time. Doesn't matter if I am off my feet all day, or walk here or there. Biking past 10 minutes still seems irritating so I don't - despite surgeon being very dissapointed about that. Walking 10 multiple times a day seems better than biking 10 once every other, and I am enjoying being in the neighborhood.
 
Quick ouy of town meeting
I walked a half mile this morning with no issue!

This afternoon I added two quarters spread an hour apart. This wasn't really planned but I got sick of using Uber for such short distances.

I'm a wee bit sore now two hours later, but nothing serious. If I was home I think i could easily icepack that out
 
What a great post and accomplishment!
 
I babied it the rest of the week. 15 minute walk last night and major throbbing a bit after.
 
More roller coaster. Good then not good. Sometimes longer on feet, sometimes less.

This constant back and forth is tough mentally, especially as I am alone again this week.
 
This constant back and forth is tough mentally, especially as I am alone again this week.
It is tough mentally! Things are going better, you think you’ve turned a corner, and then the knee says, not yet! :gaah:
 
I'm now walking for ADL + an additional 3/4 mile walk around the neighborhood 5 times a week.

I still have a spot that irritates me around the fibular head, and the ligaments that run upward from it. Still doing IT band stretch to try and work on that.

The knee is still bigger than a normal knee, but doesn't bother me.
 
Walking is the best exercise of all for new knees.
I think you're wise to be doing it.
 
well 11 months from surgery

thought I'd pop in and give an update

swelling settled down almost all the way, still get slight increases on a long drive, or walking

IT band attachment area(gerdy's tubercle?) is still the worst. No amount of stretching has made any improvement in the pain and snapping there. This is my bane, the pain escalates a good bit with activity, starts ramping up at 10-20 minutes and just increases steadily. The rest of the knee can tolerate hours on my feet with no issue and this works up to quite a stabbing pain.

My original surgeon stuck it with cortisone to no effect, and then he gave up. Nothing wrong with xrays, nothing I can do, he said.

I saw someone in a different practice yesterday, and while he said he'll order an mri and see if they spot an impingement or overhang, he was not optimistic. I got a big speech about having too high expectations. Which is utter rubbish.
 
Is the image quality for MRIs of TKRs really poor? This thing is nothing like the several crisp clean MRI images I had pre-replacement. Blurry as can be. The tech insisted there was no motion issues.(In fact it looks FAR FAR worse than the one pre-surgery MRI were the rad remarked about motion)

I'm starting to think that the femoral component of the replacement is just too wide on the lateral side. Swelling is so low now I can really compare to my other knee, and it definitely looks and feels wider.
 
Last edited:
So it's not just me that thinks so. I had someone else look and feel - the lateral femoral epicondyle definitely sticks further out than in my non-replaced knee. A bit over half a centimeter they thought.

What can be done about that?
 
Is the image quality for MRIs of TKRs really poor? This thing is nothing like the several crisp clean MRI images I had pre-replacement. Blurry as can be.
They are supposed to use a special protocol for doing an MRI when you have a knee replacement. Apparently, they didn't do that.
 
I have the report now, which says they used sequences to compensate, then says you can't see much at all due to artifact
 

BoneSmart #1 Best Blog

Staff online

  • Jaycey
    ADMINISTRATOR Staff member since February 2011
  • Roy Gardiner
    Staff member since February, 23, 2013

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
65,167
Messages
1,596,863
BoneSmarties
39,356
Latest member
JanieMarie
Recent bookmarks
0
Back
Top Bottom