Become an Insider

Bilateral TKR Analysta's BTKR diary

@analysta i see where you are coming from. I am 7 weeks and go to pool 1 x week and land pt 2x week
Like you some of the stuff can be done at home but some can't. The balancing can't be done at home not could the strengthening The quad needs more than just walking around or doing housework.
I too feel the swelling and stiffness after Over using it at pt or home exercises or walking or even working but as my os said as long as it doesn't impede my Flexion it won't impede the long term recovery. He also said 6 months for the swelling to disappear.
I like you won't try the sprint at this time.,..not sure if it's just our mind or possibly our muscles too
Maybe we can do the 100 yard dash together in 6 months!
 
No, I think you are making a very wise decision. You know your body better than anyone. And you are correct that it's too soon for strength training like you say your therapists are starting to push. Wait until your knees are ready. You'll know when it's time. It will be when that swelling and tightness has greatly diminished or disappeared completely. Actually, we normally tell folks that is about the 6 month mark. And we advise that full healing can be a year or more.

Your attitude about patience is good. Keep on that path and you'll do just fine. You may be able to do some of these things sooner. But just don't be surprised if you can't. It can be a lengthy recovery and there is no benefit at all from pushing yourself when your knees aren't ready.
 
I agree with Jamie. You've made a rational argument that you can do what you need to do on your own.


Jean

LTKR (Stryker Triathlon): 21 April 2015
Right Knee Arthroscopy: 25 July 2006
Left Knee Arthroscopy: 10 February 2005
 
@Jamie. Do you mean it can take 6 months for the swelling and tightness to disappear?
 
Yes, it can take as long as that, although the extent of the swelling and tightness will decrease gradually. This is a year-long recovery.
My left TKR is almost a year old and it still swells a bit if I overdo things.
 
analysta said:
Tomorrow I'll be 8 weeks out and I think I'm going to stop PT. It has been a huge help (in my humble opinion) (certain parts of it) but I don't think I need it any more, although I plan to continue simple stretches and light exercise from home. Anybody think this is a big mistake on my part?

The thing is that the PT folks want to amp up the exercises each time I go and I feel I'm verging into the "Overdo" area a bit. Rather than push back at them, I think I can do the exercises and stretches at my own pace at home and at work where I will stay very aware of possible strain. It feels like, for me, delaying the tougher exercises (bike resistance, squats, whatever) until at least the three month mark (as people here have advised) is going to be my schedule.

The part of therapy that has done me the most recognizable good, which is the hands-on manipulations and pressure point work, no longer seem to be needed. I am aware of no pain points other than overall stiffness and the usual (but gradually ebbing) general pain when I go from sitting to standing or use stairs. That will take care of itself in time, I think.
Click to expand...
I think it's a wise decision to quit PT at this stage. You know, from how you feel, that your knee needs to go at its own pace, not at the pace dictated by the PT.

I agree that 8 weeks is too early to start strength training for your knee, and that includes doing squats and increasing resistance on the bike. As you say, 3 months is quite early enough for that.

Congratulations for listening to your own knee and making the decision that suits it, and you, the best.
 
PT has worked for me but my therapist is pretty gentle. I am 8 weeks LTKR doing steps normally (for 1 week). I have very little pain and swelling, which I attribute to a gentle surgeon who did the quad-sparing technique on me. I won't do lunges or squats yet at PT. I see my OS on Tuesday. My guess is he will say I don't need PT anymore. I have appointments made through October 7 but I myself cut those from twice a week to once a week starting next week. I don't want to let PT go entirely because she helps me with stretches and really helped me gain confidence for stairs and other obstacles. I also started swimming last week and I am back riding my bike outside for very short rides. I want to use my PT as sort of a guide through the next month. I too am afraid she will want to push too hard but I will tell her if it hurts, and I have come too far to let anyone including myself do something to hurt my knee. So far nothing I have done in PT has hurt.
 
The following is copied from a post I did in someone else's thread. I'm trying to keep my own thread complete.

About swelling - I'm using a device that can measure swelling so I've been keeping records. It has been soooo interesting and has given me a sense of control over the swelling because I now can see cause and effect and maybe even progress. I can see how much elevating the legs brings down swelling, and how long it takes for swelling to go down (for me, it takes almost a half hour to see a change). I have measurements of the first-thing-in-the-morning swelling for general trends. I am getting a handle on what happens when I sit too long at work. I'm also starting to see how long to walk without causing much swelling (just a quarter mile, boo). And so on. (I used a sharpie to put marks on my leg where the caliper device has to touch so it's as consistent as possible from one measurement to the next. I absolutely don't understand why PT's don't do this for their angle measurements.)

Most importantly I'm actually seeing progress in just the couple weeks I've been doing it, in terms of first-thing-in-the-morning measurements. Very slow, but definitely there. There are ups and downs and tons of what we call "interacting variables" for example whether I had PT the previous day or how well I slept. I think that, with a few gazillion more measurements, I might be able to do a regression analysis, heeeheee.

This "mad scientist" activity was spurred by all the conflicting ideas here and elsewhere of what works and what doesn't ... there are lots of subjective experiences but little actual data, and most importantly there's no data about *me*. So that's what I'm doing.
 
@Wanttobebiking the quad soaring is a big help for recovery. The quad which gets cut becomes very weak and also need to heal where it was stitched
I couldn't get that procedure because my os said I had major arthritis and he needed to get more room to work
 
Quad sparing is practiced by most surgeons. Nowadays, very few surgeons cut or snip the quads.
 
You had bilateral total knee replacement and the surgery took 45 minutes? I had one of the best surgeons in Ohio and had a PKR and the surgery was around 90 minutes. I'm not able to do half of what you are doing and I'm considered moving along at a good pace. Guess I'm a little confused


Sent from my iPhone using BoneSmart Forum
 
The difference in activity is in the number of weeks Analysta is ahead of you in recovery, @ghoffman0102 .

I am sure that bilateral surgery takes much longer than 45 minutes.
 
My surgery took 2 hours. I had the subvastus approach minimally invasive and quad sparing @Celle and @Dearjr. A friend of mine had the old fashioned procedure just a year ago in the US, so not sure how many US docs cut the quad?

Analysta, you sound like you are making great prgress. Did you stay in PT? My OS basically kicked me out. I feel okay about it but my therapist was a good friend to have for the past 8 weeks, and if I don't keep improving I am going to ask my OS to order more sessions for me.
 
It took 45 minutes per knee - 91 minutes for both. Sorry if I gave the wrong impression!

The demo video surgeons for my particular prosthesis said that they average 35 minutes per knee (Smith & Noble Visionaire).
 
Last edited by a moderator:
@Wanttobebiking - my PT implied last week that he was going to kick me out, in a nice way. Also my inpatient PT kicked me out after 3 days, back in July when I was still an inpatient. My OS has given me a prescription for more sessions so I am going to stay with outpatient PT, but only once per 10 days or so, just as a check and in case something comes up.

I am soooo lucky. I don't know exactly why or how I am recovering this fast, and I am a little worried that others new to the operation will feel that what happened to me will happen to them, i.e. they will set their expectations too high. I am an OUTLIER according to my OS, my PA's, and my PTs.

I am especially concerned that others on this forum will damage themselves by trying too much, too soon based on what they see happening with me and other outliers.

The moderators here on BoneSmart are doing absolutely the right thing by trying to get people's expectations to be lower and to discourage people from calibrating themselves to the wacky outliers like me.

I also want to re-iterate that although I could do pretty amazing ROM and walking things from the first couple days in the hospital, that at this point (8 weeks) I am really on a par with everybody else here in terms of swelling and reactions to exercise and walking. I anticipate a year for full recovery, and even at a year I don't expect to be doing 10-mile hikes the same way I did in my 30's. At the same time I think that if somebody did a study on recovery and TKR vs BTKR, I'd bet anything that the statistics would show that BTKR has better and faster results. I am appalled that some insurance companies and Medicaid discourage BTKR.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
We all heal at different rates and we all go into surgery in various condition, and I am sure each surgery is unique. I too am grateful for my revovery this week but who knows how I will feel next week. At this stage ( 8-10 weeks) we still have lots of challenges ahead. And I agree that overdoing it would not be good!!!
 
Small update at 8 weeks or so ... For reasons I cannot justify, I decided to take a break from the daily home exercises that have been recommended by PT and now after a week of loafing am realizing it was a mistake. (I didn't back off on the flexion/extension regimen, just the strengthening exercises.) It's very clear to me that my knees have gone back to being about as stiff-feeling as they were three or more weeks ago. I can't detect any backsliding in ROM or swelling, it's just that it has become quite a bit more painful to get up from a low sitting position and there's once again a few seconds of painful stiffness when I do get to the standing position. So this morning I resumed the exercise regimen (getting back into it gradually of course) and am looking forward to again getting up quite easily. Very disappointed that I am not SuperWoman after all.
 
Unfortunate we all get into those lulls....just try to find time every day till you don't feel the knee..lol

What kind of strengthening exercises do you do?
 
I agree about the PT. Seems an active recovery is working best for me. When I cut back too much, I have more stiffness as well. PT exercises have always made me feel better!
 
Pt is good but too much is not!
I cut back to 2 times a week
One pool and one land!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Corganics CBD
Active Antimicrobial Hydrogel

Staff online

Members online

Total: 1,778 (members: 4, guests: 1,774)

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom