BMI, fitness levels and possible outcomes

Zim

new member
Joined
Jul 14, 2019
Messages
1
Age
69
Country
United States United States
Gender
Female
Hi. Curious if all of your surgeons require a specific BMI and general fitness levels before they will replace your knee. I.ve been told to loose 5 pounds and to increase my lap swimming to one mile 4 times a week instead of my current 3 times. They.re telling me the fitter one is pre OP, the better the outcome. Have you heard this.
 
No for me
Weight bearing exercise is of course the best but if you need a knee that is very difficult
My surgeon did not require a specific fitness level or BMI
Your surgeon is fussy. 5 lbs???
Four miles a week swimming?
Very few knees would be done with those constraints
 
No from me as well. 5lbs would be unlikely to reduce risk significantly.
At the end of the day I would attempt to comply because its not worth fighting and you have enough to worry about (and will help you). The last thing you need is to be concerned that the surgery date would be compromised. A healthy vegetable based diet will be good and try and do the swimming if water
After that congratulate yourself! You are a star already with that swimming
 
5lbs is ludicrous, and if only people who could swim a mile were considered... :oyvey:

Plenty of people not 5lb nor 50lb but over 100lb 'overweight' have had successful TKRs. Your surgeon seems to have some funny ideas.
 
He's right, but only in stating the obvious that the fitter and stronger we are, the better we will recover.
Did he actually say that unless you lose 5lbs and swim an extra mile, he would cancel the op?
 
Of course it is better to go into any surgery as fit as possible. The problem is that most people waiting for joint replacement are already in pain limiting their mobility. Your surgeon is not being realistic. I think I would look for another surgeon with a bit more compassion.
 
Fortunately my surgeon was very compassionate and took me in spite of a BMI over 50. 2 weeks post op and I'm healing beautifully.

Unfortunately, so Doctors and hospitals here in the US keep strict BMI guidelines. Sounds like you found one.
 
We have a saying,

"Rules are for the guidance of the wise, and the obedience of fools"

If he applies the BMI criteria, he's in the fools category.
 
Being more physically fit with my second knee made recovery seem a bit easier in terms of showering and that sort of thing but the knee itself took roughly the same time to recover.
 
Interesting discussion.

I thought initially it might be related to Medicare guidelines. Recently, my regular doctor (internal medicine) told me that Medicare now requires docs to include bmi and to counsel/prescribe changes to lifestyle and nutrition if the patient is above the normal range. But you are younger.

My OS suggested a modest increase in exercises to improve balance and to increase quads’ strength as I got close to surgery, when my knee pain kept me from doing very much walking, even on a treadmill or in the pool.
 
Being more physically fit with my second knee made recovery seem a bit easier in terms of showering and that sort of thing but the knee itself took roughly the same time to recover.
That's exactly right.

Being physically fit may make recovery seem easier, but your knee itself is going to take about a year to recover, whether you're 18 or 80, fit or unfit.
If you go into this recovery as an athlete, you are very likely to suffer from worry and impatience with the slow recovery progress. You need a lot of patience to recover from a knee replacement.
 

BoneSmart #1 Best Blog

Staff online

  • djklaugh
    Staff member since December 30, 2020
  • mendogal
    Staff member since November 10, 2023

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
65,180
Messages
1,597,055
BoneSmarties
39,364
Latest member
All2Gd88
Recent bookmarks
0
Back
Top Bottom