TKR 8 weeks and frustrated with lack of progress

[Creeker13]

Hi JJ and welcome.... It will be fun chatting but be carefull.... this site is addicting!!!!

 

[Roy Gardiner]

Roy, you have good questions. You can pm me so that we can leave this thread to its owner's needs!

I think others might be interested too, so I've started a new thread https://bonesmart.org/forum/threads/recovery-and-drug-dependency.17052/

 

[jd24448]

I did the same as you..I thought that I had to push myself only to read quite the opposite on here...I am about 10 weeks out and not swelling near as much...I stopped worrying...I am now canning meats, driving, doing some cleaning...and yes there is some pain and I have to rest but the swelling is minimal. I go back for my second knee replacement on Dec. 4. So sit back an relax...some!!!

 

[rlwintin]

JJ, aren't you lucky to have found this site? I am. I will be eager to see how you do after backing off the exercise, rest elevating, etc. My knee hurt just thinking about all the exercise you were doing. We are on the slow boat and there are some good things about that too.

 

[referee54]

Am 8 weeks out from TRK (9/24). still have swelling, pain ( still on pain meds). Am going to rehab 3 days a week, aggresive, go to gym other days, swim, stationary bike etc. Extension & flexion average.
Tried to prepare for surgery by doing leg , hip and core work. Very frustatred at progress. Is all this normal? At what point should I expect to be off pain meds.? What about the swelling?
Thanks.
jj

Eight weeks seems like a long enough time to heal---I felt the same way at eight weeks, when I returned to the classroom, which was much too early!

You have to consider what has been surgically done to your knee---cutting, sawing, pounding, gluing, etc---and your surgical knee is responding to all of the surgical trauma---and it will take quite some time to calm itself down.

Many of us also had the "no pain, no gain" mantra and became very frustrated. We all had to learn the idea that it is "no pain, more gain"! The more you do, the more then recovering knee fights back. You have to learn to be less aggressive---this is contrary to our thought processes, I know---but it does really, really work.

As others have said, I would cut back on not only the aggressive style of therapy, but the times of therapy, too---maybe twice a week and rest, ice, and elevate.

 

[referee54]

You also have to realize how much time it really takes to recover---at five months I still had a very slight limp and would just lose it. At six months, I was "getting there", and at eight months. I was pretty darn close to being back to having no issues at all. When you think about it, my BTKR and recovery took me 3/4 of a year. Looking back at how frustrated I was at eight weeks, well, I had a lot of frustrating times and much learning to do. The folks at Bonesmart helped me out and we will help you through this, too. You will indeed reach your destination---just remember that your knee is in charge until that day. I had to learn that one, and I was a slow learner!