TKR Can't get any flexion

[smarttoys]

At four weeks out you should stick to heal slides and gentle bends and stretches for flexion. Bend to the point of discomfort and hold for a bit. Don't bend to the point of pain.

 

[newlybionic]

At the stage you are in the one thing that can slow your increase in flexion is swelling. Sometimes your knee might not really look swollen but it still is inside your knee. Right now the best thing to do is exactly what you are doing. There is an articles on how to do heel slides the right way. That can help with flexion. The most important thing to remember is that if something hurts you to do your body's response is swelling to protect that area. If your knee is swollen then you can't bend it very far.

 

[Pumpkin]

Do any of you have exercises that helped you with flexion?

Here is a link to an article in the library about Heel slides and how to do them .

 

[donnab]

you folks are SO awesome. Thanks so much for your good help, advice, information and support. I am deeply grateful and will be working through all you hve sent.

 

[referee54]

I merged your two recovery threads as per forum protocol---we would really like TKR folks to have only one recovery thread, as it makes it so much easier and efficient to track where you have been, what issues you may have had, and what is going on now by simply following one thread, instead of hopping back and forth between two or more threads.

It also cuts down on duplicate replies, as well.

Thanks for your understanding!

Tim C.

 

[referee54]

Four weeks seems like a long enough time, but, in reality, you are just emerging from the "Dark Days of Recovery." This recovery takes much longer than we are ready for and much longer than we would like it to, and patience is the operative word.

Again, as others have said, while the swelling may appear to have gone done externally, there probably still is some internal swelling that you cannot see---so take the exercises gently and slowly, and continue to ice and to elevate as much as you can.

The knee is much like, as Josephine so aptly puts it, like a rubber hose filled with water---it is not going to bend easily, so just be patient and understand that the recovery will go on for some time.

You will get there---your destination of being fully recovered, but it will take some time.

 

[kneeper]

You might want to stick with the bike and skip the Nustep. That is more to work your quad muscles and could lead to more inflammation which won't help bend.

 

[donnab]

Thanks again for your continuing support, encouragement, ideas and information. What a great forum team. Thanks so much.

 

[AprilM]

@donnab Definitely listen to the suggestions and ideas from these folks. I am 8 weeks post-op and have been struggling. Until I found this board. They have been an absolute godsend <3

 

[donnab]

Just rereading all the wonderful responses I received from you all. What a journey. I am STILL in rehab facility but will be released on Wed....so less than a week here. Will be wonderful in every way to get home. I need to make that move --physically and mentally and emotionally. Still not past 90% flexion and will see surgeon on Tuesday so we'll see what he has to say about it. Just thanking you all again.

 

[Celle]

@donnab
Please stop worrying about your ROM. 90 degrees at your stage is just fine. There's no need to rush, no magic "window of opportunity" within which time you need to achieve flexion or else all is lost. ROM can continue to improve for a year, or even longer, after a TKR.

Stop letting everyone make you think that you aren't doing well enough, because you are. I'd like to also suggest that you ask people to stop measuring your knee, because what you can do with it is far more important than the numbers. Your knee will bend just fine, once you get rid of the swelling and stop trying to make it follow a preconceived notion of where people think you should be.

I think you need to read these articles:
Myth busting: the "window of opportunity" in TKR
It's never too late to get more ROM!
It's worth the wait for ROM

You don't need to work hard to rehab a knee. Just treat it gently and do a little, gentle exercise. These articles could help, too:
TKR: work “smarter” and not “harder”
Life in the slow lane

I know that what I'm telling you is probably very different from what you have been told in that rehab unit but, for heavens' sake, you've been there for ages and their way hasn't done you any good. All it's done is made you worried.

By the way, I see from your first post that your TKR was done on 7th January, 2016, but your signature says this: "right tkr 15-6-5". That just doesn't make sense to me. Please will you amend your signature, to show your correct surgery date? Here's how to do it:
How to create a signature
Thank you.

 

[donnab]

Hi and thanks so much for your encouragement. I am happy to report that I am slated to go home on Wed, 2/17 and couldn't be happier. Also, i go back to surgeon on 2/16 for first post surgery visit. So I'll give an update from that. On 2/22 I will resume PT with a new therapist and hope for good results. Thanks again for your encouragement all along the way. This forum is so important and helpful.

 

[kneeper]

Great to read that you are heading home in just a few days!

 

[sleepilu]

I really like the advice about getting the PTs to stop measuring you. They're unnecessarily obsessed with it! The physio who came to me (rare thing in the uk anyway) would have the protractor out of her bag and waving it in my direction without even so much as having a proper LOOK at me first. Just nuts! I'm 11 weeks out now, I have no idea what my ROM is but it bends enough for me to be able to sit with it comfortably tucked under the table, get in and out of a very small car and get my socks on!


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[katie1624]

Hey there,
I also am having the same issue I cannot straighten my knee at all its at 15 degree :( it's so painful to walk , my bend is great if only the extension would just work I would be able to walk . I find massage helps me relax my own muscles but not for long going to see doc in a few weeks ... I'm 6 months since surgery

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