TKR Apricotpie and his right TKR

Easier is good! Baby steps lead to adult steps. :heehee:
 
Eight weeks since my TKR.

Overall, I am much better. My pain hot spot is there but the temperature has gone down another notch from Medium-High to Medium-Low. It's still my canary in the coal mine when I exercise the knee. If it acts up I stop immediately.

Two things are annoying me at the moment.

1. When I rise in the morning the knee is still stiff, with that feeling that there is a thick rubber band under my skin, wrapped around the joint. The swelling, while less than in the past, seems to have stabilized at a tolerably uncomfortable level. :nah: I really do wish it would go down faster. 5-10 minutes of slow cycling on the stationary bike helps a lot. :upright:<--- not as fast as this guy!

2. I am having a few more sleep problems than I did a few weeks ago. It seems I feel the pains more or my brain lets them annoy me more. Of course, I am also taking far fewer pain meds. Duh........:unsure:

I did manage to walk 2 miles yesterday. Not that I planned to, but I wandered a bit farther than I planned, and had to walk back or spend the night on a park bench in the rain. :sorry: A lot of steps. I need to recharge the ice machine today.
 
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8 weeks out.

Why can’t my knee remember that I was able to do full rotations on my bike yesterday, and pick up where it left off? No. I have to gradually work up to it ever day.


RTKR July 15, 2019
 
Your knee will get there and one day you'll be able to pick up where you left off the day before. Right now, it's still recovering from the major surgery it had, and it's doing pretty well.
 
I had a short visit with the Dr. today to check on my incision site which had shown signs of infection. He said it looks good, nice and closed up, and should not need another course of antibiotics. Thankfully, we caught the infection in it's beginning stages. He also said I need to watch it like a hawk for the next few weeks and if anything appears odd (gets red or painful, oozes fluid, another stitch works it way out, etc.) then I go in ASAP to have it checked and treated if necessary. Am I having fun yet?

Riding my stationary bike is paying dividends. I actually have the bike seat set one notch lower than when I used it before surgery. I am getting near his goal of 120 degrees of flexion thanks to the bike. In fact, I think with the bike and some stretching I can get to 125 degrees (which is where my non surgical knee is most comfortable bending, I'm not a very limber person.) So, I will work on that slowly, cautiously and with great respect towards my poor brutalized knee.
 
Good job on riding that bike! I found that if I was having extra pain on my 2-3 month old knee, that if I rode for just 5 minutes or so then my knee would be much happier.
 
<Putting bullet proof Kevlar vest on>

I must admit I don't understand this desire to get to working out in the gym within a few weeks or months of a TKR. To each his/her own, but it seems to me it's asking for trouble.

An acquaintance of mine had a flex of about 120 degrees after his TKR. He was riding his bike again and really getting on well with his life. But, a t about 3 months he wasn't satisfied with his flex and his ability to carry heavy stuff, so he went to the gym to 'strengthen' his knee. After a few weeks, his knee become extremely sore and swelled up big time. By the time it recovered, over a month later, new scar and adhesion tissue had formed and he is stuck at about 100 degrees.

OK, I had to say that. We are all different and if the gym helps great. Who am I to tell anybody what is best for them. But, my 2¢ is to go slow, and ramp up as the knee allows it. And never, never, never, ever take knee recovery advice from a gym rat.

<Taking off Kevlar vest>
 
I don't understand the rush either. It takes a year to be fully healed. You can't rush healing, as much as we'd all like to.
 
Slow and steady wins the race. :)
 
9 weeks since the surgery.

The therapist thinks I can now move to once every two weeks. I agree. I'm getting to the point where I think I can do all the exercises myself. She adds one or two new ones a week and takes away maybe one. It seems we are focusing on hitting the Doc's preferred flexation number of 120. I am at 115 with some effort. It's getting to be a bit much.

I have the seat on my stationary bike very low, so I flex the knee quite a bit. But, sustained riding is still a problem at this time. I can walk several miles, but the knee still gets sore and swollen, though not nearly as badly as three weeks ago.

Overall, I think I have hit the 'break even' point. I am now no worse off than I was the day before the surgery. Better if one includes the fact that the direction I am moving is towards improvement and not towards a future of more pain, stiffness and limitations.
 
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The therapist thinks I can now move to once every two weeks. I agree. I'm getting to the point where I think I can do all the exercises myself. She adds one or two new ones a week and takes away maybe one. It seems we are focusing on hitting the Doc's preferred flexation number of 120. I am at 115 with some effort. It's getting to be a bit much.
I'm sure you'll get to 120 degrees of flexion, given time, but maybe not within your surgeon's stated time limit. But if you don't. so what?

There's no point in stressing yourself or your knee to meet an artificial deadline, because ROM can continue to improve for a year, or even much longer, after a knee replacement. There isn't any deadline you have to meet:
Myth busting: the "window of opportunity" in TKR

It's not exercising that gets you your ROM - it's time. Time to recover, time for swelling and pain to settle, and time to heal. Your knee is capable of achieving good ROM right from the start. Its ROM will gradually increase as your knee heals and the internal and external swelling decrease.
TKR: work “smarter” and not “harder”
Knee recovery - Lose the Work Ethic!!
 
3 months since the RTKR

The Doc thinks I can quite PT and regular follow up visit. He still wants me to press a bit more and see if I can add another 5 degrees to my flex. I think I can and will do so as the healing continues. No more PT!!! What will I do with all this extra time on my hands. :good-bad:

I've done some lite hiking lately, and I can also do a few miles on my bike. Overall, I am very happy with my progress. The first six weeks since the surgery were just difficult. The next two OK, and the last month has been much better. That feeling of having a steel band wrapped around my knee is gone, though the knee still feels a little stiff.
 
Sounds like you are doing very well @ApricotPie ! The slow and steady approach works every time. Stiffness will ease with time. Well done!
 
It been nearly four months since my TKR.

I just completed a three mile hike that included 400 feet of climbing up and down. My stationary bike seat is now as low as it can go, and the knee really feels the stretch but it will do 360 degrees around. No more need for the ice machine.
the knee still runs warmer than the non surgical knee, and is still a bit stiffer at times. But there are times during the day when I go about my life and I don’t even think about it.

The heck of the first two weeks and the trials and pains of the first eight weeks are just a memory.
 
Nice to hear @ApricotPie I'm about 6 weeks behind you and you're right the rough early weeks are beginning to fade....I'm definitely starting to turn a corner. I just need to be sure I don't try to do too much!
 
It been nearly four months since my TKR.

I just completed a three mile hike that included 400 feet of climbing up and down. My stationary bike seat is now as low as it can go, and the knee really feels the stretch but it will do 360 degrees around. No more need for the ice machine.
the knee still runs warmer than the non surgical knee, and is still a bit stiffer at times. But there are times during the day when I go about my life and I don’t even think about it.

The heck of the first two weeks and the trials and pains of the first eight weeks are just a memory.

Your updates are very encouraging. Thank you!
 
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