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TKR Can lost ROM be regained

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@Majic - You're welcome here as long as you need us. Don't feel that you shouldn't still be needing help.
You've had far more than your share of problems to contend with. We understand that and we're here to help.
 
I'm so sorry you are going through so much still. I'm sure Josephine will be glad to answer any questions you have. I truly hope that you can feel better soon.
 
Jackie, as much as it pains me to say so, I really have no idea what to suggest to you. I'm certainly not sure you should be trying to exercise your way out of this. So far as I've ever known, if there is a painful condition, exercise is pretty much bound to make it worse. I realise you're getting a lot of 'this is because your muscles are weak' blah blah but truthfully, do you think all your efforts and their efforts are doing any good?
 
@Celle thank you very much for your reply, and thank you @newlybionic for your concern. Unfortunately @Josephine is unable to help me, although thanks Josephine for replying. I don't really know where to turn next. I can feel how tight my muscles are, sometimes even when sitting they feel rigid, although my knees seem fine. They have certainly been worse since I had Shingles and did nothing for two weeks and very little for the following week, so rest doesn't seem to have helped. I certainly didn't expect to be in this state at this stage, some of the others who had their ops when I did can walk miles by now, and since my knees have healed well, can I damage the muscles by using them?
 
You've been through so much, with all the illnesses on top of the TKR, and I think that your body has just lost a lot of condition because of it.

I'm wondering if applying heat might help your muscles to relax a bit. (wheat bags/warm pads/hot water bottles - although be careful not to have them too hot) It's worth a try and you lose nothing if it doesn't work.

Maybe, as your general health improves, your muscles will recover as well. It could be that this takes a while, so you'll need to be patient with yourself.

It must be so frustrating to hear of others doing so well, when they had their TKRs at the same time as you. :console2: :friends:
Do remember, though, that none of them had the repeated UTIs and the shingles to deal with. I remember when my mother had shingles and it was quite debilitating for her.

BoneSmart is here for you, just as much as for someone who had their TKR yesterday. We'll try to help, for as long as you need us. even if we can't always offer a solution, we will listen with a sympathetic ear.

By the way, Josephine is having a shoulder reconstruction on Monday, 1st August.
 
Thank you for that @Celle that is what my Physio/Hydrotherapist said last week. She said that I was underestimating just how much the illnesses and the drugs had taken out of me, and how long the slow recovery would take before I am in condition again. Unfortunately not what you want to hear at my age, I feel that time is short, and we should be able to enjoy our retirement more than we can at present.
 
Well, for my quad tendinitis I found that more exercise made it worse. I had to take the exercise very slowly. I also iced a lot.
 
Unfortunately it was always rest when I had my bouts with tendinitis. Rest and ibuprofen.
 
@kneeper Thanks, I am icing whenever I sit for any length of time. The idea seems to be that I build up all the other areas of my legs, especially my quads and glutes which have all but disappeared in order to take the strain off the patellar tendon. @PegGar16 Ibuprofen disagrees with my stomach, so I am icing and taking paracetamol, but I still have to walk the dog and cook. I am hoping that swimming will prove good exercise without putting too much weight on my legs. I shall get the Hydrotherapist's view on Thursday. Unfortunately I do have to do quite a lot of walking as I don't drive and have to get around our town somehow. I used to cycle but I don't think I am strong enough yet to hold the handlebars very straight. I know it sounds ridiculous but I really have lost so much muscle.
 
I think you will find that the exercise you get doing the everyday essentials will also help to strengthen your muscles again.
 
I know how you feel about the muscle weaknes. My leg is like jello. I figured that being on crutches so long that my arms would ok...not so lucky. Still have the flappy upper arms:)
 
Hope I'm not too late to wish you a happy birthday. I'm glad you had a enjoyable day.
Reading what you said about the muscle weakness, I can relate to that very much. I've had RA for 25 years and did no exercise at all for 7 months pre op. It's difficult to exercise now, and any effort makes me so tired. I'd love to know how we can gain some of that muscle strength back. You had your TKR on my birthday, so not long ago really. I hope you will soon feel stronger.
What part of the Cotswolds are you in, I've seen quite a bit of it, it's a lovely part of the world.
Tabby xxx
 
@Tabbycat Thanks for the birthday greetings, better late than never. I am finding hydrotherapy very good for strengthening my muscles and also the swimming lessons I am having. I know hydrotherapy pools are like gold dust, but some hospitals have them and I have found a Physio way out in the country with one who also does hydrotherapy and will also rent the pool out to you to use yourself once she has done a session or two with you.
We do indeed live in a lovely part of the world, we are in the small town of Winchcombe midway between Cheltenham and Broadway. Our bedroom, kitchen and lounge windows look out onto the Cotswold escarpment. Maybe if you come this way again you could let me know and call to see us.
 
@Majic
My hospital (private) has a hydrotherapy pool. I was supposed to have two sessions but I've spent all my sessions trying to improve my extension. I could always go later on , but I'd have to pay. It does sound like something I could do with my joint problems. I'm glad you find it beneficial.
I loved Broadway. Cheltenham was my first choice for teacher training back in 1980, but I ended up in Swansea. Thank you for the invitation, I would like to visit the Cotswolds again sometime.
 
@Tabbycat Thought I ought to reply to your post in my own thread so as not to hog catsmum's thread. Where do you get pain when you stand for long? Mine is wierd as it can be in different places on different days. Sometimes it is in a line under my knee, sometimes exactly across my knee, or in an arc around the outside of my kneecap and very occasionally an arc around the inside of my kneecap. I have been told that it is the patellar tendons, but I am confused by the pain moving around. It is a burning pain, which most of the time is not severe, but when standing for long can get to an 8 or 9. How does yours compare? I haven't seen anyone else complaining of the same problem, have you?
 
Hi again @Majic good idea to move this discussion to your own thread. Gosh, a pain of 8 or 9 after you've been standing is very high. And no, I don't really recall anyone with exactly the same problem. I don't know anything about patella tendons, but I do know that the knee joint is incredibly complex. I presume it's your right knee? Has it been like this all along? My problem with standing is not easy to describe either. I think it's a combination of things, partly that I can't yet straighten my TKR knee and when I try, I get quite a bit of pain like when I strained the ligaments. That was at 4 weeks though, so should have improved long ago. So I can't bear weight equally on both feet. Also my other knee is painful, so I haven't really got a good leg to stand on and I tire really quickly. It's too bad we've been through all this and still have ongoing problems all this time later.
 
@Tabbycat The pain is in both knees, so I know it can't be the TKRs, as when I had my right knee done the left was OK. Also I didn't have it in either knee in April when we were on a dancing holiday and did a fair amount of walking as well. I then had a very bad dose of Shingles - I still have some of the spots. It seems to have started after then and got worse bit by bit after that. The pills I had to take for shingles said they could affect muscles etc and the hydrotherapist thinks it could be a sort of post viral thing. Others don't know but I have also had a lot of muscle problems after losing one and a half stones when I had a bad UTI directly after my last op which caused my muscles to atrophy. They are only just getting back to normal, and I am being encouraged to build them up and stretch them. I think this has made me walk very oddly which has probably affected the tendons and ligaments. I just hope that one day the pain will all go. I hope the same for you too.
 
You probably have already thought of this bit have you have your shoes checked for proper fit and size? I wear sneakers most of the time and I went to a small store that caters to runners. They examined the wear on my old sneakers, measured my foot, had me walk in the store and then brought out a few pairs to try on since I was walking on the outside of my TKR foot. It did help elevate a lot of of pains that I had.
 
@newlybionic I was told at the hospital that I was walking oddly, and sent to a podiatrist for a gait analysis. She confirmed the trouble, and made me orthotics which I wear all the time. This seems to have solved the problems with my muscles, but the patella tendons have started hurting since then. I really can't put a finger on just what started it. If only I could I could perhaps stop doing it. Thanks for your reply. How are you now? I hope your revision is better than the original.
 
Hi @Tabbycat and @suemegane , I thought I would report back on my experiment of taking Ibuprofen and laying off the stretching exercises.
The Ibuprofen seemed to work at first but after a while I couldn't tell much difference, and I also couldn't use a topical gel on the most painful spots. I use Volterol gel, as I find the Ibuprofen gel makes skin peel off my hands no matter how quickly I wash them after applying it. Has anyone else noticed this?
Without the stretching exercises I have gradually tightened up until yesterday evening I could hardly dance with both tightness and pain, which did ease slightly.
Today I have gone back to paracetamol, did all my exercises this morning and rubbed a tiny amount of gel onto the spots which really hurt last night. I then walked the half a mile to Church, served coffee all morning, washed up and walked back with very little trouble and pain if at all no more than 1. I shall be swimming tonight and have hydrotherapy tomorrow, so I hope things continue to improve.
I hope things are improving for both of you too, I was so depressed last night when I had to sit out so many dances, and thought of the others who still have problems. It can be so dispiriting I find when some are doing so well and we are lagging behind.
 
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