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

I'm elevated and on ice 99% of the time I'm awake. The other 1% I'm walking or using the pedal machine. No offense taken. It does look nasty!
 
Make sure you are elevating correctly, 'toes above nose' .
[Bonesmart.org] 60 degrees ROM at 2 weeks. No progress at all :-( <
 
Yep, I'm elevating correctly but the swelling is there anyway. Not sure when to expect the swelling to go down.
 
It's only been a month since your surgery. The swelling will linger on for several more months, but will be decreasing gradually.
 
Hey Bert - I have kind of adopted you as my "if Bert can do it...." competition. Because, I am just that way! Your leg looks very swollen to me, and if swelling is what limits our ROM I can see why yours might not be where you want. It is hard for me to judge, mine does not seem as swollen, but I have such heavy kegs to begin with, it's hard to tell.

[Bonesmart.org] 60 degrees ROM at 2 weeks. No progress at all :-( <
 
I agree Kate, my knee looks pretty swollen for 4.5 weeks post op.

So after looking at this picture (which was taken 2 days after returning to PT after taking a week off)...

[Bonesmart.org] 60 degrees ROM at 2 weeks. No progress at all :-( <


...I decided to cancel my remaining PT sessions. I had my last PT session today and the back of my knee hurts as well as the area around my kneecap. As with three days ago, my PT guy was pretty aggressive today. As much as I wanted to finish the last two PT sessions next week before my 5 week follow up visit with my OS, I just don't see how this aggressive PT will help. My ROM today when we started the PT session was 82/7 which is the best it has been at the start of a PT session since surgery.

The problem is I have no idea where I would be if I hadn't gone to PT this week. All I know is my knee shouldn't hurt after PT and it has hurt after both PT sessions this week. My first several PT sessions were fairly gentle but I'm pretty sure my PT guy felt compelled to "speed things up" as my follow up visit with my OS approached.

I'm guessing my OS won't be too excited with my lack of ROM and me cancelling PT but...it's too bad. I need this swelling to go down and there is no way that will happen with what my PT guy is doing with my knee. I'm going to give my knee 2-3 weeks to heal with no PT and if my ROM is the same or better than it is right now, I'm done with PT for good. Today is one of the down days for me :-(

Brian
 
I'm pretty sure you are listening to your body now
It's your knee and your body and no one else has the right to boss it around
 
Brian,
I agree, no more PT, they are not helping you, and may be setting back your recovery with being too aggressive.
82 degrees is fine for 4.5 weeks, ROM will increase as your knee heals.
What is the scar on the outside of your leg above your TKR scar?
 
Good decision, Brian. Concentrate on elevating/icing to get that swelling down.
 
That's what I've told kids who ask or give me funny looks. The look on their face is priceless!
 
You will have much better ROM if you just take it easy and ice and elevate. Your knee will apreciate it.
 
@bertschb

Glad to hear you've made the decision not to go to PT. I am NOT an expert, but the top part of your knee, above the joint, looks swollen to my untraimed eye. I hope that with rest, ice, and gentle movement, you'll notice improvement soon!

Jen
 
Hi Bertschb,
I'm also 4 plus weeks post op and wondering are you rubbing anything into your scar - mine is so dry and I have been waiting to use creams or oil on it - yours from your photo looks much better than mine so wondered.

Cait
LTKR
27th October 2016

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Cait- no lotion or anything on the scar. My scar is about the only thing about this surgery that seems OK to me. Doesn't look too bad (relatively speaking of course).

-Brian
 
Once my incisions were completely healed I started to use coconut oil on them to get rid of the scaliness and dryness.
 
I have naturally dry skin so my scars very flaky at the moment- I put a photo of it (taken 1 week ago) in the scar photo section :)

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Because of past experiences, I never had PT, just heel slides and ankle pumps. When I told the therapist in the hospital not to touch me, she said she was going to tell on me. Now, that is just crazy. Are we in grade school? When they called at home to schedule and I refused them, another one said I would be classified as non-compliant. I told these therapists to go ahead and tell on me. That it was my knee and I'd do it myself! And that's what I did. This kept my extreme pain and swelling down. I'm 6 months out almost and have 130/0 ROM. Those who go through aggressive therapy might be at the same place, but had to go through all that pain to get to it. I choose my own low pain way! Aggressive therapy does not work for a tkr. We don't have a sport injury, we have had major surgery done to our knees. That is totally different. It is our knee and we are in control of it, not PT.
 
bertschb said:
I'm going to give my knee 2-3 weeks to heal with no PT and if my ROM is the same or better than it is right now, I'm done with PT for good.
Click to expand...
It will take more than 3 weeks, my friend. Swelling like that will take several weeks and lots of rest. And I applaud you for giving the PT the boot! It's not an easy thing to do but I will promise you that you'll not regret it!
 
More than 3 weeks just for the swelling to go down? Sheesh! Tomorrow will be 5 weeks post op. Man, at this rate it will be spring before I see 100 degrees ROM. I'm thankful this is the only health issue I'm dealing with but I'm still really tired of sitting with my leg elevated
 
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