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Knee Infection* Alternatives to spacer & antibiotics<

Ok...needing a little help from anyone who has any advice. As you know, when I had my knee infection, doc took out my knee and put in the spacer and two rods so I couldn't bend my knee at all. It was like that for 3½ months. Now, even though my knee is no longer swollen and sore, it is very tight and does not want to bend. The doctor gave me some sheets with exercises but they are all just for strengthening the muscles but none for trying to loosen up the muscles, tendons, or scar tissue...whatever is keeping it from bending. I will NOT go to therapy.

The therapists he sends me to are really hard on me and I believe have caused some of my problems. I have been doing my recumbent bike once or twice a day but it hasn't helped too much yet. Anyone have suggestions?

Oh, telling on myself...I have been a bad girl. I was supposed to go to my 6 week check-up today but I just didn't feel like going. Don't know why??? I was only going to see his PA...so.... I have rescheduled in two weeks. I mean all he's going to do is take an xray, tell me everything looks ok...and see you in 4 months... I'll just do it later. Oh, well.
 
I don’t blame you for not wanting to keep your appt. I’ve cancelled many an appt since this whole journey started. Including PT and a few on the day of. I just didn’t care. If I didn’t feel well I didn’t do it.

I hope you are not feeling guilty about cancelling. You have every right not to go. :) :-) (:

While I’m doing PT in my home twice a week I only do the exercises sporadically. Otherwise, because I live alone I’ve had to do everything by myself. Including more walking than I probably should have. And my rom last week was 85. After my initial tkr my rom never got above 65 which I now attribute to aggressive PT.

My point is that the bonesmart way of just doing your daily activities will help with your bend. And time. With me it seems to have really helped.

I think you should give yourself a break from formal exercises and just do your ADL’s for a while and see what happens. Can’t hurt and as you know many on here have done no PT and did just fine.

I know others will have more concrete/better advice. But I hope I have helped somewhat. :friends:
 
I truly believe that Time is on your side. Your knee has been through a lot, give it time to recover.

I agree with you about the “therapy” I will not be going to that next time around, either.

There were times when I would like to have cancelled appointments with my surgeon (it turns out he required more than most I read here) but it was my first time around and I was afraid not to go. I don’t think I’ll be afraid to do that next time, especially since next time will be a fair distance away.
 
@Madbkseller, I just noticed in your signature line you just had a follow up revision to re-insert your knee hardware following removal of the spacer back in early October. You are barely 6 weeks out and your knee has been through a lot, especially with the infection. I understand your reluctance to go to PT because of past experience. Who says you have to go where the doctor says? Why not look over other PT centers and interview a few therapists? Tell them what you want/need (ie help with gentle stretching, reducing swelling, massage, etc), that you will not tolerate anything forceful and nothing related to strengthening exercises at this time. I’ll bet you can find someplace that will focus on you as the patient and not meeting some arbitrary goals set by the OS. Might be worth a try?
 
Hi @Madbkseller! My leg was immobile for almost a year. My OS told me that the exercises he wanted me to concentrate on were the straight leg lifts (you can never do too many) to strengthen my quad muscles and the bike. I just started with the rocking back and forth until I could peddle a full rotation. The bike helped with ROM...at your own pace.
 
@PegGar16 Thanks... I need to do more straight leg lifts for sure. I have been doing just the rocking back and forth on my bike. I remember after one of my surgeries what a glorious day it was when I could actually go all the way around. WOW. It was fantastic. Hard to believe that you truly feel like you have accomplished so much being able to do that. And, yes, I probably do push myself too much..it's just a part of who I am. Have a nice Thanksgiving and thanks for your reply.
 
I did not work on leg lifts. I lifted my leg when I needed to get it up on my elevating wedge. (an ADL) All of a sudden it dawned on me that what I was doing was a “leg lift”. I pushed my wedge aside and tried an actual leg lift, and my leg went all the way up high. I was so excited. But I never did X amount of them. My leg is fine.
 
Well, little by little, step by step. So, yesterday I drove for the first time in 4½ months. What a feeling of freedom.

I had a chipped tooth that has been bothering me for quite awhile and my husband, God Bless him makes me nervous with his driving...so I have been putting it off. I made the appointment and drove there myself. It's about 20 miles ... felt good. I even stopped at our little IGA and picked up a couple of things. Hard to believe that I missed that.
 
Getting the freedom back to drive is a huge and wonderful thing! Now, you're an independent girl again!
 
:yahoo: :yes!: Good for you!!!! I can so relate to the feeling you got stopping at the IGA . That is the one thing I really miss- grocery shopping. I've been having groceries delivered because I don't think my knee would be happy standing and walking for that long.

Yes, freedom is a wonderful thing! :)
 
With the delivery service I had, they wouldn't do perishables. I really missed my fresh fruit and veggies. I had a wonderful neighbor that would pick those up for me, but it's not the same as picking them out for yourself.
 
Mine delivered perishables. But as far as fresh fruit I limited the kind I ordered because not everyone is as careful picking them as I am . That and meat, etc is something I like to shop for myself as you do sistersinhim.
 
@arizonaone and @sistersinhim - I live in a little town that only has IGA and yes, Walmart. Since I can remember I have not been able to walk through Walmart so I use one of their scooters. Maybe if you have a friend or neighbor who can take you to the front door and go in and get you a scooter. It makes you feel so good to pick out your own meat, fruit and veggies just like you said.

So after feeling so good about myself stopping for a bit of groceries the other day, I realized the next day that I did way way way too much. Now it's been 5 days so I'm not so sore so guess what I am in the middle of doing. Cleaning my bathroom. I am lucky that he has been feeding me, doing dishes, laundry and groceries. But clean the bathroom. No way. It was horrible. Then I realized that it hasn't been cleaned since the first week of June when we went on vacation because after that I had my surgery. I still have to clean off one shelf, clean the toilet and a little more sweeping and I'm done. So, on the downside I might just get it finished. But I'm shaking and I hate it when I overdo it and start shaking.

My granddaughter is supposed to be getting a book read, so I just finished reading to her for awhile. It's about Julia Child. I am finding it very interesting.

Can you tell that I have no trouble writing. I can just go on and on. Well good day to all. I have to go finish that stupid bathroom. Ha
 
I can so relate when it comes to cleaning or lack there of . Since my July surgery I have done as little as I can get away with . Unfortunately, I live alone so I have to do everything. I'm going to have to hire a cleaning service for a deep clean because I just can't do it .

It's funny tbough, in my experience anytime a guy cleaned a bathroom it NEVER included using any type of chemical. lol I could never understand why. So, @Madbkseller in a way it's kind of good your husband doesn't do bathrooms -you're much better off. :heehee:

How old is your granddaughter? So cute that you read her a book about Julia Child!
 
@arizonaone - I have two granddaughters - ages 7 & 10. Kazlyn & Kahmari - the older one has to do a "I am Julia Child" report where she dresses up as her and has to talk about her life. I showed her a video the other day of Julia and told her she had to talk like her too. She won't do it but that would be funny.

Well, I really paid for the cleaning and stuff yesterday. I never did finish the bathroom. Went through some Christmas stuff...nothing up yet and help my granddaughters make "Dog Restaurants" out of boxes. My knee was so swollen and stiff and sore last night I almost could have cried. I iced it and took a Narco - nothing helped. I this morning I woke up with a sore ankle...what the heck is that about? Swear I am really getting tired of this.
 
Welcome to the ODIC - Over Did It Club. We've all been there and we all seem to need to learn for ourselves. There's such a fine line between "Just right" and "too much".

I think your whole leg is reacting to your overdoing things a bit. Take it easy for a few days, to allow things to settle down again.
 
ODIC club - that is too funny @Celle Since I have been dealing with knee problems for over 15 years you would think that by now I would have learned that. It's so silly. When I sit here with my knee really bad...all I can think about is getting up and getting stuff done...and yet on those days (few though they may have been) that I don't have too much pain.... I don't want to get up and do stuff. Damned if you do and damned if you don't. HUH
 
Getting up and doing stuff is OK, but you have to be reasonable with it. I'm single and had to take care of myself, my cats, my house and my yard. But, I'd do just a little then sit down and ice and elevate for twice as long and maybe even more than my work time. Yes, things were a mess, but they got done in time without too much screaming from my knee!
 
Love your granddaughters names!! Very cool! Too bad she wouldn't talk like Julia, as well. It would have made for a great presentation and hilarious . But given the age of her classmates I think the only one who would have found that funny was her teacher .

You should video it while she is practicing so you will have a wonderful and sweet memory to look back on .
 
That's a good idea, arizonaone. I'm just wondering if anyone else has this problem. When I get up to do just a little bit of something...it isn't my knee that hurts...it's my back. I already mentioned that. But what really gets me is how much I start shaking. I shake so much that I have to sit down quickly afraid that I am going to collapse or something. Does anyone else have that problem? What causes it. I never had that with any of my other surgeries. Cra -Cra as my granddaughters say.
 
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