TKR Can lost ROM be regained

[Pumpkin]

Majic,
You can also walk in your grocery store, all the aisles, 1 to 2x will give you a fairly long walk. Go when it is not crowded, usually early morning.

 

[Swish]

Majic, I was only on narcotic pain meds for 3 weeks just because of the constipation. I was taking Celebrex regularly for a few months and then only as needed. Now I just take acetaminophen (Tylenol) or Naproxen (Aleve) as needed....which isn't very often even though I still have stiffness....just because I don't like taking medication.

So glad you are back to dancing and that it is helping. Like Josephine said, sometimes I just walk around the house to get exercise if the weather doesn't cooperate. I belong to a gym that is close by and am trying to go there at least 5 days a week. Snow is gone now, but we are expecting a storm this week and another one next week. I am so glad I am retired and don't have to commute to work in the snow.

 

[Majic]

@Pumpkln I'm afraid that although that is a great idea, it isn't possible where I live. We have a small corner shop and a tiny Co op store with three short aisles, and about a twenty minute walk from here downhill all the way there and uphill all the way back. The wind is about 45/50 mph now and lashing rain. To get to the nearest large store is about 10 miles away and I am not a driver, so would have to go by bus. We are really pretty rural hear, even though I live on the edge of a small town

 

[CATSMUM]

@Majic l still take painkillers as and when necessary. Must admit I'm getting a little tired of taking them now!

 

[Majic]

@CATSMUM I am thoroughly fed up with taking paracetamol. Is that what you take? I am trying to keep off naproxen, although I don't think I was as stiff when I was taking it. The main problem I have is muscular I think how is your muscle trouble, has the massage sorted it out?

 

[CATSMUM]

@Majic I take ibuprofen and paracetamol when necessary, like you I'm absolutely fed up with taking drugs. The massage is helping but I'm still not where I want to be at 8 months out. My therapist thinks l overdid things when l was at Centerparcs in January and possibly put myself back a few weeks!

 

[Majic]

@CATSMUM We went to a Valentine's Day tea dance yesterday afternoon. We danced from about 1.45 to 4.30pm. I was exhausted by the end, we must be very out of condition. It got a bit painful towards the end and my knees got very stiff. I thought that I would be in the ODIC today, but surprisingly not, I am less stiff and have less pain than yesterday. Hurrah. Dancing must be good for knees. We have another dance we could go to on Friday night, but don't know if we will make it, as I am back in hospital tomorrow afternoon for a cataract operation and don't know what the instructions will be for the few days afterwards. I had one done 10 years ago but don't remember anything about aftercare except for the eye drops

After dancing the muscles in my legs were quite stiff, so I put some heat on them for a while then massaged them with the little hand massager that I have just bought. In no time at all they were loose again. This morning I was out in the icy cold and one started to get tight on the way home, so I did the same, and along with some stretches it worked.

 

[CATSMUM]

Good news @Majic about your knees, although you were a little stiff, really seems you are now progressing well. Think my mum had to take it easy for a few days after her cataract op, hope all goes well for you tomorrow.
Keep up the good work with the dancing (but not too soon after your cataract op!).

 

[Majic]

@CATSMUM. Cataract operation went well, and this morning I can see. Everything seems very bright! I can see well with and without glasses how can that be? Taking it easy today, it is raining anyway so I might as well.

 

[CATSMUM]

@Majic That is great news about your Cataract op, how wonderful to be able see properly again. Don't do too much over the next couple days.

 

[referee54]

Cataract operation went well, and this morning I can see. Everything seems very bright! I can see well with and without glasses how can that be? Taking it easy today, it is raining anyway so I might as well.

I had my cataract surgeries on both eyes last March---it was like a detergent commercial---brighter whites and brighter colors. I do not need glasses anymore--my vision is close to 20/20 now. (I do need "cheater" reading glasses.)

I understand how great you feel! Isn't it wonderful to get that vision back!?!?

 

[charmed-life]

My grandmother had cataract surgery when I was about six. First time we visited after it, she cried because it was the first time she could clearly see her grandchildren's faces. Hope yours is a great success!


Sent from my iPhone using BoneSmart Forum

 

[Swish]

Woohoo!!! So happy for you.

 

[Majic]

@kate23 I have been reading the thread for my first knee, when we were knee twins. For some reason I can't get to your thread so I am tagging you to find out how you are and how your knee has progressed since I last contacted you. Mine improved a lot until I fainted last June and pulled two muscles in it.i then hobbled around for almost 6weeks until I got sciatica in my right leg, and my right knee started to bend inwards until it was touching my left leg.
On the 23 rd July I had that knee replaced and started the whole procedure once again. You know the score, pain, drugs, tiredness, constipation and gradual recovery. The op went very well but after a week at home I developed a UTI, which took five months on antibiotics to clear !!!
Eventually I got rid of it but I had lost about 20lbs weight and my muscles had disappeared. I am gradually recovering now,and have gone back to ballroom dancing,but the 1st knee started to hurt along with the 2nd one,and I am once again having problems with the muscles down the outside of the left leg. I find this quite depressing. My OS says that I put so much pressure on this leg before and after the second op. that they will improve gradually together. I am now 7months post op 2 and still have pain in both especially 1st knee especially standing, when just under knees and muscle in left leg hurt like mad. I really feel I should be better than this by now.

Please let me know how you are, I would love to hear from you.

 

[Majic]

@Clipless I think you have had your sscond knee replacement. Have you had any problem with your first, since your second? I seem to be the only person this has happened to. Catsmum did for a very short time, but mine is persistent and often the first is more painful than the second.

 

[Majic]

@Josephine I know that you told me not to do exercises once I had got back to normal life, as it would inflame the tissues round my knee. However, my Chiropractor who seems to be doing me a lot of good, has given me exercise for my tight calf muscles and the muscle down the outside of my left leg. Two of them are hamstring stretches, and I think the third is a quad stretch." What is your opinion of these exercises, and also riding my exercise bike, and how long at a time to you recommend. I have been doing 2/3 minutes whenever I think about it.
I am seven months out now, and the only real pain is directly under my knees where I am still slightly bruised, I imagine that this is where the soft tissue, muscles etc are moved while the work is carried out, although I may be wrong. I know that I seem to be exceptionally unusual in that both knees hurt in exactly the same place at the same time, but my OS said that I had put so much pressure on my left leg both before and after the second TKR that they would gradually get better together. Have you heard of this before? My GP who was in orthopaedics said he had never heard of it.

Apart from this odd fact, am I progressing reasonably well? Dancing seems to loosen the muscles, while standing tightens them, and if I stand for two long eg cooking, the pain starts to creep down the top of my shins. I love cooking, will there really be a time when I can spend all day in the kitchen as I used to?

 

[Josephine]

However, my Chiropractor who seems to be doing me a lot of good, has given me exercise for my tight calf muscles and the muscle down the outside of my left leg.

Oh I see - that's alright then!

also riding my exercise bike, and how long at a time to you recommend. I have been doing 2/3 minutes whenever I think about it.

Sounds about right.

I imagine that this is where the soft tissue, muscles etc are moved while the work is carried out

I wouldn't imagine so after 7 months but it's possible.

but my OS said that I had put so much pressure on my left leg both before and after the second TKR that they would gradually get better together. Have you heard of this before? My GP who was in orthopaedics said he had never heard of it.

What a quaint idea! Would be nice if it was true but I'm afraid it's not. And I agree with your GP.

 

[Majic]

@Josephine Thanks for your reply, from your diagram on raffs thread, the pain is now in the patellar tendon, both knees/legs but worse on the left, the first knee, which is the one which tends to creep down into my shin not walking, but standing. I am taking1,000mg paracetamol 4 X day, my Doctor said I shouldn't need anything by now, but even with the paracetamol I can be in a lot of pain. Is there anything else I can do?
I haven't had a 6 month check up, my OS was so pleased with me at my three month one that he said he would leave it to my annual one. Do you think it would be wise to go back to him and explain the problem, or would there be nothing he could do? I really would value your advice, I was pain free on Christmas Day and have seemed to go backwards, is this the norm? Do others have problems in the same place? I don't know how to find them to ask what to do.

 

[Josephine]

I am taking1,000mg paracetamol 4 X day, my Doctor said I shouldn't need anything by now

All evidence to the contrary! Oh these doctors who give stupid opinions like that do make me see red! This is your GP, I suppose? Are you in a practice with several GPs? Can you not see a different doctor?

There are a couple of other things I can suggest and they are
1. a TENS machine
2. a chiropractor (sorry if you've already tried this!)

 

[Majic]

Thanks @Josephine The doctor I saw was not my own GP whose opinion was that I was far too young at 68 !! to have knee replacements, and that if I did I would never be able to ballroom dance again. So I went to this other one who in a previous life was in orthopaedics and houseman to my OS. He thought it was never too young if it was bad enough, and told me that of course I would dance again. As he was right there I have continued to see him about my knees, he was the one who didn't agree with the OS about the cause of the pain and thought it could be muscular.
Thanks to you I have been seeing a Chiropractor but couldn't go this week as I have just had a brilliantly successful cataract operation and was told to take it easy, but have another appointment for next week. I shall ask her about it.
I have looked at TENS machines, but the instructions warn about using them if you have epilepsy, so that's out, and it is back to paracetamol. I really appreciate your advice Josephine thank you very much for replying.