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TKR 9 weeks post TKR

Today Mark's 3 weeks left total knee replacement. I am not using any assistive devices, only take a cane if I am going somewhere I am not familiar with the terrain. My quadriceps on the left leg are now working which is amazing. I am doing my home PT and I seem to be progressing. I started walking 30 minutes a day 2 days ago. First day I was exhausted remainder of the day but no extra swelling. Pain still being controlled with 2 to 3 Norco a day. The deep knee, thigh and shin ache really stuck! I am going up my stairs normally but I choose to go downstairs bad leg first still as I want my quadriceps to be a little stronger, it's a mind thing, I just overthink it and don't do it, lol. But that is totally ok, I will let my knee dictate when it feels ready to go downstairs normally. My second outpatient PT is this Friday. I hope there is a little progress with flexion and extension but I am not going to stress at all about it, as my surgeon told me last week at my 2 week post OP, I am doing good and most important not to regress ok if no progress. I am pretty sure I progressed because I can bend the knee a little more and when I flex my quadriceps and tighten up that knee pressing downward I can get my extension to 0. So yayy for me. I will keep moving forward.
 
Yay is right! You are doing well! That ROM will come. Don't sweat it!
 
@sistersinhim , thank you!! Today is a good day. I am so happy. I went 13 1/2 hours between a pain pill, which to me is awesome and tells me the pain is getting a little less. I am really not worried at all about addiction, but I prefer to take opiates, I don't like them so fir me weaning off slowly is what I want to do. Knowing that I may have a bad day and need more, that's ok too. I just would like to be off them totally (if possible) with in 2-3 weeks which will bring me to 5-6 weeks post op. It's a goal. Hopefully I can do it. ROM is coming along on it's own. It's so amazing how our brains can just take over our knee. When I was paying attention to something else while working on my flexion, I flexed way farther than ever and it wasn't painful, but when I looked down and saw how much it was flexed, my muscles sort of tightened and it was my eye seeing the flex that told my brain, hey that's too much flex, then my brain told my muscles to tighten up. That is so crazy!!! I think when I do my flexion and extension exercises I am going to read a book or do something to keep my eyes and brain busy because that was amazing what my knee did when I wasn't starting at it wishing it to bend or extend. Lol.
 
You know you really don't have to do exercises. That ROM comes in all on its own! But, if you feel good doing them, as long as they don't hurt or cause swelling, then you are doing just fine!
 
@sistersinhim , well I have tailored the exercises for me. I am totally not doing the one where I am supposed to take my good leg and scoot my bad one in flexing it. No way, that hurts. I had literally no quadriceps in the left leg, it was just dead. I have been doing the straight leg tighten the quadriceps while pressing knee to the floor and it it has been quite amazing. A little pain first couple of days so instead of swishing my knee downwards I was just focusing on getting those neurons communicating in the qudracep and wow, today my entire quadricep is tightening up easily and working. It's not painful and actually feels good when I tighten it up.
 
I was one who didn’t work on doing a leg lift. For the first 2 weeks I would get into bed and my husband would gently put my leg up on my elevating wedge, because I couldn’t lift my leg myself.

Sometime after the 2 week mark I was managing to get my leg on my wedge myself. I don’t know when it occurred to me that in doing that, I was doing a leg lift. Do I pushed my wedge aside and tried one and my leg went way up!!

Proof that all one needs is the “exercise” you get by doing one’s daily activities. I didn’t need X amount of leg lifts 2-3 times a day! Just putting my leg on my wedge when I got into bed did it for me.
 
@Jockette , yes I haven't done one straight leg lift!! I actually couldn't do any. I am able to raise it now easily, the first 2 weeks I was moving my left leg up and down using my hands on my ankle to move it, which didn't really help my quadriceps to get firing. I just take it slow and with normal activities of daily living and the little exercises, no pain, that I am doing, its feeling better. I am having less swelling, keft stiffness and more flexibility by just doing my regular daily things a little at a time letting my knee control it.
 
@Silvernail02 It’s such a strange feeling to have dead weight with our leg. But it sounds like you are managing it well and doing common sense exercises to work the quad without creating pain. That’s great you can raise it easily now!

I can’t do the leg lifts either. What I do is I keep engaging my quad as I sit in the recliner - tightening it and then losening it. I was surprised when yesterday I got some lift. I have more to do but it’s getting there without doing those leg lifts.

Wow, 13 1/2 hours without a pain med! That’s awesome. You are progressing so well! Good job!
 
@Joy77 , that's awesome. Yes, that engaging the quad by tightening and loosening is exactly what I started to do and each day more and more of the muscle worked. Ok, just for kicks. I tried a straight leg lift, and OMG, I did it. Just 2. But hey it's progress. No rush!!
 
That’s great! Also, once you can do a straight leg lift you don’t have to keep doing them. :happydance:
 
Silver ,I am new to site but have read so many recovery threads, feel likeI know most of people here. It’s not like I have someplace to go, and I consume books ,so I just keep reading everyone’s recovery posts lol.
If you read enough, you can glean a wealth of information from this site. I am US also and was told presurgery PT is everything, gotta work thru it , take the pain, but after just 2 weeks post op, having had a PT tech seeme 3 times, I have been able to pick my path to recovery, and so far so good.
1. No pain,no gain is archaic ,and I am lucky to have a PT tech that agrees with me.
2. I have been a jock all my life and exercise has always been my friend, so I actually enjoy the exercises he has set up. No I don’t pull or push anything that I do beyond the feeling I get from a gentle stretch. I have never felt stretching ,done right, had any pain involved in it, and still don’t. If you have ever stretched, then you would know the point where you leave slightly uncomfortable to the world of pain is where you are doing harm to your body.
3. I believe , There is “ good necessary pain” involved in our recovery, but I am not getting it from my exercising.
I’ll explain. Getting up and walking from day one is painful. Standing still ,not moving is painful, Sitting ,legs dangling, or bent touching floor is painful. Laying in wrong position is painful, especially when pain killers wear off “painful.”
No getting around these activities, they must be done, but as forum says gently go forth with your healing, so each day we maybe stand a little longer ,walk a little farther, sit a little more, till pain hits, then find a position as pain free as possible. I don’t believeI have read anywhere here, that walking on is a joy to behold early on ,
So we deal with the pain we need to and try not to add any we don’t.

I think Navy said you can see there are many paths people have taken here to recovery ,from no more than walking and doing daily chores letting body heal itself ,to those that have suffered Thru the brutality of overzealous PT techs, to inbetween where you pick n choose your approach, but whatever path you choose,unnecessary pain shouldn’t be part of it.
 
Softtail said:
So we deal with the pain we need to and try not to add any we don’t.
Click to expand...
I like this conclusion and loved your description leading up to it!
 
@Softtail , thank you for your thoughts, I appreciate them. I have my second outpatient PT tomorrow and I am going to break it to my therapist who could be my son, haha, age is not always a factor in experience, he is a nice guy. I am going to tell him I don't want to do anything that pushes me to pain, the main one, the sitting in a chair, feet on floor, push my foot back, then here comes the barbaric pain, scoot my foot back farther with my good foot. No thank you!! I did it PT last week and suffered that night and the next day.
 
It’s your knee Silver, and don’tbe Afraid to let him/her know that. Some PT techs probably develop a “I know what’s best for you” complex, but I am guessing they have never been thru the trauma we have just experienced, so make sure they know you are not gonna let them push you to a painful outcome.
 
Yes, it's my knee. Had my second PT, encouraging. My flexion was 95 degrees last week, today 110 degrees. Extension was 10 degrees to 0, today 7 degrees to 0. I didn't do the one exercise I mentioned that causes pain. But I did do 5 straight leg raises, which were painful. I won't continue those,lol. So the last week I did it my way, slow non painful exercise and I progressed! I will continue to listen the knee.
 
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