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TKR Bigt's recovery thread

Hi bigt! I'm 4wks ahead of you in my RTKR and overthink everything, especially regarding my recovery! What has helped distract me from the ROM worry is to stay in this forum and read everyones recovery journey.

I quit all PT 2wks out from my surgery because of it taking anywhere from 24-48hrs to recover from each 45 min. session. It was all I could do to walk w/ my walker once they were finished w/ me.

I am doing so much better at 5wks out because of my decision to let time & my body recover my knee! The bonesmart mantras are your best defense against post-op pain! I glued myself to them!

Looking forward to following your recovery here as you feel like posting!

:elevate: :ice: :chillpill: :sleep::sleep::sleep:
 
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I had my first actual PT visit from the in-home physical therapist and oh my God I am in a lot of pain did not sleep. He gave me a bunch of exercises to do I'm not sure if I'll even be able to do them because of how much pain I'm in and of all the swelling. I feel like I'm taking a step back with PT when I would have thought I would be going forward! Thanks to everyone for the advice and support I really appreciate it! Thank you!


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Welcome to the joy of PT. You need to move and bend your knee, not to the point of pain, just to keep the blood flowing and prevent adhesions, but beyond that, it just needs to heal! I was awake for my LTKR, and it sounded like a machine shop on the other side of the curtain. They drill, nail temporary fixtures, saw, and hammer. It's probably close to getting your knee shot with a shotgun! until it heals, you are fighting the healing process by causing additional pain.

I have assurances I will NOT get PT for #2.
 
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bigt, the same thing happened to me Sunday night after a visit from the torture chamber Sunday afternoon. Even Monday was bad. Today is better, but that awful person is supposed to come back today. I haven't heard from them yet. Maybe I won't answer the phone. Now, that's an idea! But, back to you. Don't do anything much at therapy. Your knee will recovery without it. It can't heal if it stays inflamed. Ice is a TKR's best friend!
 
Me too, Jim! Now, to wish for all of them to have to go through a TKR and then therapy! Well, I guess that's not very nice of me!
 
If I was not laughing right now I would be crying you all definitely keep my spirits up. I haven't totally stopped moving my knee because I know that would be very bad to do and I still do my heel slides when I can I do my ankle pumps I move my knees much as possible I just really can't do much of the stretching and pulling exercises that he wants me to do. He wants me walking around the house with my walker which I do he wants me to do some squats while I'm standing with the walker which right now is not much of a squat but I can do it. Thanks as always for listening.


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Is that guy crazy!?! Squats on a brand new knee that's already extremely damaged!! Don't do those, you'll really inflame that knee worse than it is. I'm sure Josephine would have a fit if she read that pt wants you to do squats on a knee that only 5 days old. Please read her thread on doing no pt at all. It will give you a whole new insight into this therapy agony they are trying to put us through. If it hurts, don't do it! Please don't do it!
 
Another thing to be aware of is how determined not only your PT staff will be but especially your operating surgeon and his staff in convincing you that without PT your new knee will fail. They are relentless and my PT just smiled and shook her head at me in disbelief. She judged me ignorant- I could see it in her face. That's alright- I love not having to deal with her or her pain therapy now!!

There are a few of those here who have surgeons that are educated on the proper way to recover a knee joint replacement. I know one of our administrators, Celle, her doctor doesn't allow his patients to do PT I think the first month after the procedure. She'll be along soon to chime in on this!

Those that you think are suppose to guide you through your recovery will be the hardest to say no to. But allot of that pain you are in right now bigt is actually damage the PT has done to your already damaged surgical area. Even at 5wks with little self directed PT activity other than walking around my house I am at times extremely 'sore'. Say I take too far of a ride with my leg at a downward angle. I carry pillows and ice but because it isn't elevated as high as I keep it in my recliner- it gets very angry with me. I took a 1.5hr 'ride' today and right now I'm back, in my recliner with an ice pack and there is manageable discomfort in my surgical knee! As long as I stay off of and keep her up for awhile she'll be fine. She's fatigued from being out too long.

I didn't realize the severity of this procedure until it was already said & done. I certainly didn't think the recovery was going to kick my back side as it has. But where ever we go.. there we are, right!

We've got to sit- and sit- and sit for a few months. Re-watch all of our favorite series and movies and put up with people doing things for us. BUT- I'd say by Christmas we'll be able to go to our favorite sporting event again without having to hobble up and down the steps as we did pre-op. Maybe even climb up on a horse or perhaps in the back of a wagon for a hay ride-!! We have to keep our thoughts on the prize of getting our lives back. And love our new knees back to the place we're not even aware of them anymore.

You'll meet some great folks here. We really help each other along daily. It's like I come here to be with people who know what I'm going through. All those around me who have never had a TKR can only guess. Including those pushing PT on us too early post-op.

We've GOT THIS!!
 
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@bigt, I really feel after reading so many posts that the PTs who come to your home are the worst trained of the lot. The Pt you have is harming you. SQUATS are you kidding me!!! Your knee is not out of shape---it needs to heal. Frankly you need to take control away from that poorly trained person and think about what you are doing.

I don't agree with home pt. I think you would be better off to stay in bed with your knee elevated and iced. You can start out patient PT at 3 weeks. You will not loose any rom--in fact you will gain it as the swelling goes down.

But, I have said this before and if you insist on having a PT come to your house, call the service and ask for one who has been trained in how to rehab a tkr. The person who came last time should never enter your door again.
 
Say no to the squats. A good way to say no if you're concerned with them labeling you "non-compliant" sometimes is to say "not today" or "I'm not ready for those yet."
It's all fine for them to show you the exercises, but you don't need to do many of them at this point. a few heel slides at a time a few times a day and your ankle pumps.
A little walking around is ok--to the bathroom, to the kitchen for ice or a snack--you probably do that every few hours---that's about all you need at this point.
That's all the walking I did in the first week.
 
Talking to you all helps me a tremendous amount! I was feeling low and thinking I'm not pushing myself, but hearing from all of you helps me take a step back and just go with ice rest and elevation! I really don't think my knee is ready for much more than rest,ice,and elevation. I know my quads won't even help with getting my leg elevated onto a pillow! So I know my body has a long way to go to heal. I am trying to do my quad sets and heel slides along with moving around my home to go to the bathroom and kitchen. I def don't think that I could handle much more right now. Thank you all for helping out!


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If a person broke their leg would they have the person up and doing PT already? I think not. You've had bones sawed up. Metal pounded into them and parts glued. Muscles, tendons and ligaments have also been affected. I was lucky this time in that after my revision the PT who came to my house was very gentle and did some massages too on some very tight muscles. She did give me exercises to do on my own but I didn't. I did a rare heel slide and toe pumps. Two weeks after surgery my flexion as greater than it was before my revision. Give yourself more down time right now. It's not the time to aggravate anything further.
 
I just wanted to chime in, and basically echo what everyone else is saying. I was lucky that my home PT'S were wonderful. That being said, there were some exercises that felt fine when I was doing them, but made my leg hurt tremendously for a day and a half (or so) afterwards. When that happens, I stop all exercises, and spend the whole day resting and icing. My PT said this was absolutely the correct thing to do, and it's important to listen to my body. I also let the PT know that I had pain after they left, and they would stop or modify the new exercise so it doesn't cause pain.

I will also say that my PT didn't add any kindof squats until almost 5 WEEKS. 5 days is ludicrous!

I do find that when I'm in pain doing some of the gentle stretches that the PT taught me does help me to feel better (although not at the time I'm first doing the stretches when I'm very sore). It's been a process of trial and error - and listening to my body.

Good luck to you in your recovery process, and speak up to your pt about the pain you experiencedafter your last session.
 
We didn't hear from you yesterday. Are you OK?
 
Recovery is going slow but my ROM is improving swelling is going down. Pain is always there, but it's only been 9 days. Still not sleeping but hopefully that will change soon. Thanks to everyone for the help keeping my sanity [emoji1]


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I can relate about the recovery being so slow and the pain never leaving. It could be worse, though. I slept about an hour longer this morning than I have yet. That makes it 2 1/2 straight now! Shall we shoot for 3. You bet we will! bigt we're here for you and for each other.
 
We can start a new a new group " the imnsoniacs" I already can't sleep and I haven't even had my surgery...I hope you guys feel better soon!!!
 
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