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TKR 60 degrees ROM at 2 weeks. No progress at all :-( <

Why can't you drive? I manage fine with my manual transmission and have done since my ROM was 80. 90 is OK. Have you tried your bike? Maybe you'd manage better than you think. Relax. It'll all be fine. In time!!
 
You still need to find out what's causing all that swelling, I think. If you aren't stressing your knee, I wouldn't think it shouldn't be doing that.
 
He's talking about a Corvette driving school, so I suspect speed and cornering will be involved with rapid changes from accelerator to brakes and lots of clutching to change gears. Not much fun at all with a leg that isn't responsive yet.


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Are you able to get a full rotation on a bike? If you do, how does the knee feel afterward?
 
Even so, my knee easily lets me do that so I really don't see why a ROM of 90 would prevent it.
 
Spex10 said:
Even so, my knee easily lets me do that so I really don't see why a ROM of 90 would prevent it.
Click to expand...
What he's talking about is not regular "driving." It's a specialized training much like a race car driver would do with split second clutching and gear shift changes. It would be hard on a knee that is swollen. Plus, he's right that bending a 6 foot frame into a Corvette with a 90 degree knee might be a real challenge.

@bertschb ... am I understanding correctly that you are at a winter home and not in the location where your surgeon is? So there's no way to see him until your follow up appointment in April? If so, I think that's too long to just tread water with absolutely no improvement in ROM and swelling. How about giving his office a call and telling them what is going on. Is there any way you could get to an appointment with him sooner?

If that's not possible, can you find a gym, YMCA or exercise club where you could use a recumbent bike a few days a week? It is the swelling that's holding back your ROM...at least to some degree. If you're not doing stretches and bends a couple of times a day, you need to do that as well. You should not push your knee past minor discomfort.
 
Thanks for the feedback folks! To answer some questions - I'm 6'4" and getting into cars isn't easy. I have a 1 ton truck (big with lots of room inside!) and I have to move the seat all the way back to get in because my knee doesn't bend far enough. Either that or I have to slide way over towards the passenger seat sideways and lift my leg in. My car (not the truck) took a little work to squeeze into before I had surgery when I could still bend my knee. So it's a matter of getting into the car and operating the clutch. And yes, it's a performance driving school, not a milk run.

As for a full rotation on my bike- No, I'm not able to do that. I can do a full rotation on my little exercise pedaler but that's because I can lean back. I am using the pedaler most days for 5 minutes or so to stretch things a bit but I'm being really careful not to overdo it.

I think I'm going to change things up. I've been VERY good about icing for several hours a day since surgery and yet I still have swelling and no change in ROM so I'm going to stop that for 2 weeks and see if anything changes (there are studies to suggest it might). I'm also going to go to the gym each day and spend 5 minutes on a leg press machine to stretch a little more vigorously.

At this point I have nothing to lose. I'm a very patient man and I'm more than willing to wait my full year for recovery. BUT, I need to see progress during that year. I've seen no change in ROM in 3 months and that's not acceptable to me right now. I expect to see slight improvement each month.

I really do appreciate your feedback and I'm sorry for whining. I know everybody goes through the same thing. Just a bad day for me. And BTW, to get to 90 I usually need to stretch and message my knee a bit. It starts out at 70 or 80 or whatever when I first stand up. I'm sick of it!!! :-)
 
Brian I have just really got into biking after my knee replacement.. I never knew there were shorter cranks... but the problem is that I went to a bike shop ( not the one that sold me the bike) and they advised me that my mountain bike was too short.. I would like to do more ankling but my knee wants to have the pedal a little further back for now and the risk I have is catching a toe on something...
So shorter crank.. oh no there are other things wrong.. my back angle.. my seat is too high(which is dangerous)

New Bike!!

I second going back and pestering your OS.. Something is amiss. I too would be going just batty in your situation. It clearly is not working... Hey can you find a rowboat?

I hate PT.. I am more than a knee. I am a whole person who wants to be active.. I bet you are tired of being knee too.
 
I know the reason my knee isn't bending is because it's still swollen too much (see post #174 for a photo). I just don't understand why the swelling won't go down. How can the stupid thing be swollen when all I do is sit around with it raised ALL day and on ice most of the day. I'm retired and sit around all day waiting for it to heal. No exercise other than 2-3 short walks each day. No standing. No chores. No working. I was in great shape prior to surgery. Now I'm just getting fat sitting around. I need a time machine!
 
Brian, I think looking for a lymphatic massuse is a good idea. Lymphatic massage has helped a few others with swelling problems.
 
@bertschb I'm not sure if this is something you'd be interested in (at least for now). Someone posted this on here a while ago and I saved it. Take a look!

https://www.orthopedal.com/


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Thanks again for the feedback everybody. I really appreciate the support. One more thing I'm adding to my new scheme (in addition to no ice and the leg press machine) is my wife will massage my knee twice a day. We watched some Lymphatic massage videos and although my wife is not a massage therapist, we figure it can't hurt to try some of the techniques. Finally, if I can't ride my bike in a couple months, I may get those ortho pedals. I realize there is no way I could do any hill climbing with them but at least I could ride around on flat trails. Much better than sitting around all day waiting for my stupid knee to bend!

Have a great day everybody!
 
Remind me as to whether you have an exercise bike. I found rocking the pedals back and forth before I could do a full rotation very helpful. I didn't do too much each day, but gradually I think it helped.
 
I agree with kneeper. It was weeks that I rocked back and forth on my inside bike. Eventually, I was able to go all the way around backwards by lifting my hip some. Before long, I didn't have to raise my hip. Then finally, I was able to go forward! But, only for a few revolutions, but I did it. What joy that was! It won't hurt for you to try that.
 
I have a small exercise pedaler. I have no problem doing full rotations on it. Big difference between that and my mountain bike.
 
Just raise your seat post and go forth on urban trails... to see how and if the knee loosens up.. Its not like you are going to ride like that forever.
It beats sitting in a chair. You are probably going bonkers doing that.

I started on pavement at week 15.. Now sand and dirt are OK and the distances longer.. A shorter crank is also a temp fix..
 
little red canoe said:
Just raise your seat post and go forth on urban trails...
Click to expand...
I have a "dropper" seat post and it's as high as I can raise it. No dice. Trust me, if I could ride my bike right now, I'd be all over that! You need more than 90 degrees to ride a bike. I didn't realize that until I tried riding a couple weeks ago.
 
aargh..

I found that my bike was out of whack.. Yours likely isnt.. it is so much easier when I raised the handlebars.

Pool time? I found that did help..pssst so did the hot tub.. ( I know there is a risk of increasing swelling but I tried it anyway and it was very nice) what are you doing for exercise?

What do you think of the crank forward bikes( that are not recumbents)? I have heard they are easier on us olders.. You arent one of them..

Did you miss that there is a cycling forum in the Social Room?
 
I'm pretty sure I could ride a cruiser bike with big tall handlebars but the bike I brought down to Palm Springs with me is a mountain bike.
 
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