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Great results with your new knee! Stairs can be rough, but you did it! Way to go! And like Celle said, rest you knee today. It will need your TLC, so it won't fuss at you too much.
TKR Back with a question
- Thread starter jakeleg
- Start date
jakeleg
member
Reading lots of posts; advisors, etc. Trying to accept swelling and stiffness as there does not seem to be a timetable for them. Impatience has availed no results other than more frustration. Why won't all the wise words stay in my brain? Recovery takes a year. How many times have I read that? Better get started on my gratitude list. Cheering for everyone!
jakeleg
member
@sistersinhim is there a good exercise for quad stretch? Mine is very tight. I was hoping I could lengthen/loosen it and maybe increase ROM a little. The tightness is really getting to me. I no longer do heel slides and have not done them in a chair for at least 2 weeks. Any suggestions? Thank you.
No, I don't know of any since I did no exercises. I just used my knee everyday as I walked. I would try and lift my leg a little higher than necessary and then increase my stride. Doing these, I always made sure something was close to grab on to in case I lost my balance.
jakeleg
member
I seem to be in a holding pattern. I have discomfort from stiffness, but no real pain. Tylenol does nothing. I'm giving up the Tramadol because it makes me itch . I took it for back pain and it did nothing. I have been icing and elevating most of the day. I'm pretty happy with my knee until I walk too much. Its funny that after weeks of complaining I am not really bothered by anything, but I'm afraid to go out on a limb and say I'm better. I guess that's because I'm so used to the rollercoaster of emotions and setbacks. Does anyone know what I mean?
Oh yes, I understand completely. I was afraid if I said I had a good day, that I'd jink myself and have a bad day the next one! But, those good days will be lasting longer and longer for you!
jakeleg
member
@sistersinhim this site is so great. no matter what we say or think or feel -- someone else understands. thank you
How much are you taking and how often, @jakeleg ?
To be effective, you need to take 1,000 mg 4-6 hourly, to a daily total of no more than 4,000 mg. Make sure there's no Tylenol (Acetaminophen) in any other medications you're taking and factor that into your daily total, so you don't exceed 4,000 mg.
Tylenol only stays in your blood stream for 4-6 hours and you do need to keep up the levels for it to be effective.
The only quad stretch I used was to lie on my stomach and pull my leg back (under my own power). You can use a band/strap to hold the leg in position for several seconds and let the muscle relax. Don't pull the leg back with the band. I did maybe 2-3 repetitions 2x/day.
You could try some mild heat on the muscle, just not on the knee itself.
But as Celle says, some of it could be that you aren't taking enough tylenol for it to be effective. Most of my pain was a stiff achyness.
You could try some mild heat on the muscle, just not on the knee itself.
But as Celle says, some of it could be that you aren't taking enough tylenol for it to be effective. Most of my pain was a stiff achyness.
jakeleg
member
@kneeper Thank you. My knee is still quite stiff. I compare my bends when I'm lying on the bed. I can't really measure accurately, but it looks like my left heel needs to come up about 2, inches maybe 3, to be even with my right. I'm not sure what kind of ROM a person my age should have.
Is the stiffness because of my quads? I just tried the lying the on stomach bend. Is that a good quad stretch? It felt like it. Is that when I use a strap or long scarf to hold bend and let my leg relax?
I think I walk well. I ice a lot, but my knee gets hot and red as soon as I'm up, especially in the morning. It seems stiffer when I first get up, but that might be true for other joints, also. I'm no spring chicken except in my own mind.
I'm wondering if at 11 1/2 weeks progress slows and then picks up again. I am definitely not overdoing. I have been trying to remember to take longer strides when it's safe. I really do no regular exercise, but am up and down a lot at home.
I read the posts on other threads and we all worry. I'm still scared of adhesions because I don't really know where they appear. Why I bend my knee, the skin on the front of my knee is tight. When my knee is relaxed I move the skin on my scar, but I don't know how far it should move. It is not as loose as on my right knee. Should I be giving it massages with more pressure? I put coconut oil on it so it looks good until my knee gets red and hot. Obsess, obsess, worry, worry.
Thank goodness for Bonesmart!
Is the stiffness because of my quads? I just tried the lying the on stomach bend. Is that a good quad stretch? It felt like it. Is that when I use a strap or long scarf to hold bend and let my leg relax?
I think I walk well. I ice a lot, but my knee gets hot and red as soon as I'm up, especially in the morning. It seems stiffer when I first get up, but that might be true for other joints, also. I'm no spring chicken except in my own mind.
I'm wondering if at 11 1/2 weeks progress slows and then picks up again. I am definitely not overdoing. I have been trying to remember to take longer strides when it's safe. I really do no regular exercise, but am up and down a lot at home.
I read the posts on other threads and we all worry. I'm still scared of adhesions because I don't really know where they appear. Why I bend my knee, the skin on the front of my knee is tight. When my knee is relaxed I move the skin on my scar, but I don't know how far it should move. It is not as loose as on my right knee. Should I be giving it massages with more pressure? I put coconut oil on it so it looks good until my knee gets red and hot. Obsess, obsess, worry, worry.
Thank goodness for Bonesmart!
Just time. Time is all you need. Remember that it's a year-long recovery. You've had major surgery and it takes time for all your soft tissues to heal.
Progress does slow down. You won't see the dramatic improvements of early recovery, but your nee will keep on healing and recovering. This is the time when you start to celebrate small improvements, and when you see improvement weekly, rather than daily.
Don't worry about them. In spite of all the talk you hear, they are actually extremely rare.
You don't need to try to move the skin above your scar at all. Stop massaging it. Mother Nature knows what she's doing and she doesn't need any help to heal your scar. Given time, all the lumps and bumps will go away and the skin will become loose. Forcing it to loosen too early could cause damage.
Massage post THR
Don't worry about measurements. So long as you can do the things you need to that's the main thing. The stiffness will continue to diminish over the months.
This is also normal and takes what seems like a long time to go away--but it will with time.
jakeleg
member
@kneeper and @ Celle
Huge thank yous as always. Do they scare us because MUA is more money or what? Disgraceful!
@funkymuse read my latest posts from kneeper and Celle. I've got to give up obsessing for 2018!
Huge thank yous as always. Do they scare us because MUA is more money or what? Disgraceful!
@funkymuse read my latest posts from kneeper and Celle. I've got to give up obsessing for 2018!
No. I think they were taught that there is a "window of opportunity" and they genuinely believe it.
I don’t understand how they can believe it. Surely their patients have continued to gain ROM past this hypothetical window. Are they so focused on book knowledge that they can’t see the physical proof before their eyes?
And how can they ignore the gentler approach that Bonesmart offers that works?
And how can they ignore the gentler approach that Bonesmart offers that works?
But many surgeons don't keep on seeing their patients. They might see them at 6 weeks and then not again (if at all) until a year post-op. Maybe that's why they aim for a "perfect" ROM by 6 weeks?
As for the PT therapists, they want to see a rapid increase in the ROM numbers, because it's one way they can demonstrate to the insurance companies that their ministrations are successful.
I wish my surgeon had discharged me at 6 weeks! He has seen me a lot. 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 10 weeks, 18 weeks and 7 months. He wanted to see me again at 10 months but I talked him into waiting for the 1 year mark. Each one caused me stress as to whether or not he’d be happy and I knew he wouldn’t approve of my doing things the Bonesmart way. Now I wonder if he knows more about the partial than he has told me and that’s why he sees me so often and takes X-rays at every visit.
