@Atkinson8 , it took me quite a while to even do toddler style on our home stairs, which are steep. Last Friday at the physio was the first time I had done any stairs normal style, ie alternating feet. I managed both up and down, to my surprise, on their nice easy stairs. I had been working my operated leg to build up to it. After the unexpected success at the physio I then tried normal style at home, just up, and could do it with a lot of hauling on the banister. In the three days since I have kept working at it and today it was noticeably easier going up, though still with a lot of banister. I am not going to try down until the up is easy.
My toddler style is always good foot leading up, bad foot leading down.
I have at times had knee pain in the good leg, but it’s okay at the moment. In the bad leg I feel it, when alternating, in the back of the thigh, but in a good, workout sort of ache. 10 steps normal up then toddler down has me breathing hard, repeat once and I’m exhausted. So “normal” is not quite the word for it!
To work up to it the physio suggested shallow squats. I did these a bit, in the last two weeks, but also my own version. This was: stand at bottom of stairs and put bad leg up on first step. Use banister on good side (there is only one banister) and hand of bad side on about the fourth step. With most of weight on hands, put as much weight on bad leg as I could and do little movements upwards. At first I was just taking weight partly off the good leg, then rising a bit, then more. Always just what didn’t hurt. After about a week of trying this occasionally, I could straighten the leg and bring good leg onto same step. Step down backwards leading with bad leg, repeat whole thing. I still do this sort of revving up before climbing the stairs with continuous alternating steps, but I don’t need the left hand on stairs anymore, just the right hand on banister.
If you have knee pain and no access to a physio to advise, I’d say look for some gentle knee strengthening exercises. Or just rely on walking and patience, and one day the stairs will come normally. Your recovery has been much faster than mine in every other area (I remember being aghast at the thought of going back to work when you did) so I expect the normal stair climbing will come along by itself.