TKR Abbylayla 5th August RTKR

Congrats on the successful walk out of the shower. We have to celebrate those little milestones!
 
Progress is a wonderful thing:dancy:. Celebrate some more:happydance::yay::egypdance:. Have a peaceful evening.
 
Only people who have been through this surgery know how happy these successes make us. Tell someone who hasn't had the surgery about getting out of the shower alone and they'd look at you like you're crazy! But, we here at Bonesmart know exactly how happy things like that can make us. Celebrate those wins!
 
Wednesday will be 6 weeks post op. I've backed off PT for two weeks after an overly aggressive session that set me back 4 days. I've found set backs can happen easily if I overdo it with anything. I will restart PT next week but only one day/wk. to start.
In general I've had good days and bad. Some days & get get flex past 100 others not so much. Extension is always 0 with no effort. My knee really doesn't hurt. On the occasion it's telling me I over did it, its an ache that is easily resolved with elevation, rest, ice. Never need meds for it. I don't have any of the issues I read about here, tight band feeling, pain in thighs, shins etc. Incision looks amazing & will probably fade almost completely in the not too distant future.
My concern is I am still not consistently able to put full weight on the knee. I'm using a walker/crutches, in part because of arthritis in both hips, and I try to put more & more weight on my knee & less on the assistance devices because my shoulders are paying a price!
Sometimes I can do that & my knee feels so solid, strong & painless. But more often it hurts making me leery of putting full weight on it. Not sure why this is but I'm getting pretty frustrated with it. Is this common at this stage of recovery?
 
Sometimes I can do that & my knee feels so solid, strong & painless. But more often it hurts making me leery of putting full weight on it. Not sure why this is but I'm getting pretty frustrated with it. Is this common at this stage of recovery?
All this is completely normal at less than 6 weeks out. Your ROM sounds really good. It will naturally fluctuate in this recovery as your swelling goes up and down.
 
Very normal as you are in the early stage of healing still. Continue to use the assistive devices as needed and ice and elevate often. This will improve but it all takes time and patience. Patience was the hard one for me and I had to exercise this muscle more than my knees. Have a peaceful day. :flwrysmile: :console2:
 
Went to OS for follow up yesterday. He said knee looks great. Extension perfect. Then we get to flexion. Without any pushing I got it to past 100 by my OS eyeball measurement. It was/is a little swollen.
I have full trust in my OS. He has amazing credentials & is highly regarded.
But he said I only had a couple more weeks to achieve more flex. After that, whatever I have will be all I will have for the rest of my life.
Is there some logical explanation why so many of our surgeons & PT tell us this when per Bonesmart members experience, that is not the case?
 
Is there some logical explanation why so many of our surgeons & PT tell us this when per Bonesmart members experience, that is not the case?
This old school thinking is handed down and never questioned. Here at BoneSmart we question this and started really looking at what progress was made after these "milestones" imposed by surgeons and PT.

Our members consistently report improved ROM even one year or more out. Here's a couple of examples:

Here is betrtschb's record of how his flexion developed over time:
I'm 12 months out from my surgery and have some advice based on my experience:
1- Stop going to PT (all it will do is make your knee swell and reduce ROM)
2- Don't worry about your ROM
3- Be patient - VERY patient!!!

Here is my ROM history (more or less):
1 month - 60 degrees
2 months - 80 degrees
3 months - 85 degrees
4 months - 90 degrees
5 months - 90 degrees
6 months - 110 degrees
7 months - 120 degrees
8 months - 125 degrees
9 months - 130 degrees
10 months - 135 degrees
11 months - 140 degrees
12 months - 140 degrees

I spent waaaaay too much time worrying about ROM. I thought I'd be riding my bike a couple months after surgery but it took SIX months! Looking back on my surgery, if I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have wasted my time with PT and I wouldn't have worried about ROM.


And another record, from Campervan - she discovered that her flexion had increased even at 6 years post-op:
"I had a slow recovery. Here's my flex measurements at various points:
92 - 8 weeks post op
105 - 10 weeks
107 - 5 months
110 - 6 months
112 - 7 months
116 - 9 months
119 - 11 months
118 - 1 yr
120 - 1yr 2 months
125 - 1 yr 8 months
128 – 6 years "
 
I don’t know numbers but I do know my ROM got better in my second, and third, years post op.
 
I see from these two examples I, at six weeks post op, am presently at their six month mark give or take. I'm going to say that's pretty good!!
Too me, its simple common sense, if something is swollen, its not going to fully bend. Who hasn't jammed a finger etc. that swells. Does it bend completely? Of course not.I do not have a tremendous amount of swelling, never did, but I do have swelling that I can feel more than see. When I push too much, I feel, as someone else mentioned in another post, like my incision is going to break open. It's the swelling. Therefore how can it be expected to bend back to my butt? I really don't get why highly educated, highly skilled surgeons & PT"s (my PT has a Doctorate) don't get that very simple reality. Swollen joints don't bend!
I have always been proactive in my healthcare. Seems like you kind of have to be in order to gain accurate information.
 
I have always been proactive in my healthcare. Seems like you kind of have to be in order to gain accurate information.
I have found this to be very true, especially in the last 20 years or so. We are responsible for our own recoveries, not PT or OS.
 
@sistersinhim I'm grateful I've found this site with people who have already gone through these replacements who have real life experience to share. I am a very black & white kind of person. Gray areas are often very difficult for me to understand. This swelling & bending expectation as presented by the professionals would drive me mad had I not found this site of experienced people who can confirm I'm not losing my mind! Swollen joints = limited bending capability.
 
You are so right. But, the younger and up-to-date OSs and PTs are thinking more in the lines with Bonesmart. Hopefully, in a few years, they will all realize that gentle movements are the best way to rehab a joint replacement.
 
Started PT again Thursday after a 3 week hiatus. The exercises I did were not too grueling & if it was too much strain accomplishing all the reps I only did what I could. One of the exercises has my calves very sore but I good with that because they are atrophied from 9 months on crutches.
Of course at the end of the session they start looking for ROM. Extension is perfect. Always has been. Flex depends on how much swelling I have. Almost always can get at least 90 with little effort. Have gotten it about 100 with no effort on a good day.
With the PT pushing it I got, without measurement, about, 115. It didn't hurt terribly. I asked him how my leg felt & he said it was stiff. He was disappointed I did not have more flex.
Friday & today I'm very uncomfortable. Knee hurts more than usual. Hurts to walk on it. And my arthritic hips hurt more then usual as well making me concerned I may need to start replacing them before I'm ready.

I really like this therapist. He's the best I've found. My Dr. Wants me to take PT. But I'm at a point now, where I feel if going to PT is going to cause me extreme pain for days afterwards, is this really worth it? Pr should I continue PT but never, ever let them push for flex? Are my present flex numbers something I should be concerned about as I'm made to feel?
I'm really confused & getting disgusted with this whole process. I'd love to hear others experience & opinions.
Thanks!
 
Sometimes our medical teams are more interested in their agenda than in our unique, individual healing rate.

PT that causes pain is counterproductive. Period.

You are far enough along to do your own rehab of your choice, at your pace.

This is what @TortiTabby experienced. (Just so you know, ADL means Activities of Daily Living, which means just go about the normal things you do in the course of your day, and not doing a “list of exercises.”)
Just an update for those who are apprehensive about gaining ROM:
It has now been 26 weeks and all I do is ADL and this is what my ROM has done:
3.5 wks: 75
6 wks: 85
7 wks: 90
10.5 wks: 95
14 wks: 100
17 wks: 105
20 weeks: 110
26 weeks (where I am today): 120!!!
I did it! My goal of 120! No "pushing through pain", no PT after the first 3 visits, and most importantly to me: No MUA! My surgeon who said I would never get beyond 85 ROM without pushing through pain was wrong, wrong, wrong. I'm excited to see if it gets even better. :happydance:
 
With the PT pushing it I got, without measurement, about, 115. It didn't hurt terribly.
When the therapist pushes past your own ability to bend, then it's going past what your knee is ready to do. That causes setbacks in your recovery. Plus, what you can do on your own is what counts, not what someone else pushing on it does. That's a false number.
Friday & today I'm very uncomfortable. Knee hurts more than usual. Hurts to walk on it.
Do you see the relationship between the pushing and the pain? This pushing was bad for your healing knee. Now, your knee has to recover from what the PT did to your knee before it can get back to where it was before it was harmed with that pushing.
should I continue PT but never, ever let them push for flex? Are my present flex numbers something I should be concerned about as I'm made to feel?
Only you can answer the question of whether to continue with PT. I suggest you tell them "hands off!" and not let anyone force your knee to do anything it can't do on its own. Your ROM will continue to improve as your knee heals. You can not force it to heal any faster than it's going to heal. But, you can slow it down by doing bad PT.
 
I'm 9 weeks out now. Lately I've been getting an odd feeling in my knee. When I'm in the recliner and leg is straight it kind of tightens up & sometimes jerks, kind of a spasm maybe. Hard to explain but it doesn't hurt, its just weird. Also, my incision which has healed extremely well sometimes has kind of a pinchy or stinging feeling on the top part.
Any ideas?
 
Are you having zingers? They are the nerves that are reattaching or rerouting. I found them painful. They would sometimes make my leg jump. Also, it could be your muscles getting used to being used again.
 

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