TKR Do i have to give up old workouts and MMA

Crescere

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I had TKR on June 25, 2020 and it all went well. I was walking immediately with a crutch. Five days out i no longer needed the crutch. I don't walk fast, but I have normal bend in knee. I never had to take the stronger pain killers they gave me. I use ice, but I never had redness or significant swelling. I am happy and surprised how it's all going. My PT and nurse also seem surprised. I used to hurt doing the stiff leg raise, but now I easily do them three times a day.

Now I want to know what I will not be able to do long term. I used to be a beast by squating and deadlifting over 300 lbs. I sprinted up and down hills and swung kettlebells. I was in MMA where I forcefully kicked heavy bags, shot in on opponents for double leg takedows. I have and took knee submissions.

I don't want to loose this well working knee, but do I have to give up all the above fun stuff now?
 
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@Crescere Which knee did you have replaced. I'll put the information in your signature for you.

You won't be doing all those activities anytime soon. It is important to let that knee heal and strengthen after all the trauma of surgery. I would discuss your activity levels with your surgeon at your follow up appointment.

Meanwhile I'll leave you with our recovery guidelines. There are articles on this list about how long recovery takes and activity progression. Of course everyone heals differently. But this information will give you a general guideline.

Knee Recovery: The Guidelines
1. Don’t worry: Your body will heal all by itself. Relax, let it, don't try and hurry it, don’t worry about any symptoms now, they are almost certainly temporary

2. Control discomfort:
rest
ice
take your pain meds by prescription schedule (not when pain starts!)​

3. Do what you want to do BUT
a. If it hurts, don't do it and don't allow anyone - especially a physical therapist - to do it to you​
b. If your leg swells more or gets stiffer in the 24 hours after doing it, don't do it again.​

4. PT or exercise can be useful BUT take note of these

5. At week 4 and after you should follow this Activity progression for TKRs

6. Access these pages on the website

The Recovery articles:
The importance of managing pain after a TKR and the pain chart
Swollen and stiff knee: what causes it?
Energy drain for TKRs
Elevation is the key
Ice to control pain and swelling
Heel slides and how to do them properly
Chart representation of TKR recovery
Healing: how long does it take?

Post op blues is a reality - be prepared for it
Sleep deprivation is pretty much inevitable - but what causes it?

There are also some cautionary articles here
Myth busting: no pain, no gain
Myth busting: the "window of opportunity" in TKR
Myth busting: on getting addicted to pain meds

We try to keep the forum a positive and safe place for our members to talk about their questions or concerns and to report successes with their joint replacement surgery.

While members may create as many threads as they like in a majority of BoneSmart's forums, we ask that each member have only one recovery thread. This policy makes it easier to go back and review history before providing advice.
 
Sure, I assumed it would be a while. I am just wondering if my rather intense workouts will ever be in my future. I am hoping other "extreme" athletes will contribute.

I had to have this surgery, but I hate that it was necessary. I am the kind of person that has no time or patience for weakness. Sure I am following the advice of my PT and dr, but I hope my future holds me doing hill sprints, and kicking the heavy bag to the ceiling.
 
It was my right knee i had replaced. While I was in recovery the surgeon came out and told my wife my knee was "really bad". I was bone on bone with lots of spurs. I have psoriatic and osteo arthritis. I'll need to get my left knee done soon too.
 
Thank you for your date. I added to your signature for you.

I agree that you need to speak to your surgeon about this concern. He knows your knee intimately and what the future could hold for you. In my opinion, doing these aggressive types of activities will wear down the plastic insert much quicker than not doing them.
 
Yeah I was afraid to hear about the plastic being worn out. Why don't they use something stronger? In this day and age they can't do better? Kinda sucks.
 
I just read some of the guidelines recommended above. I am NOT a medical person, but I instinctively disagree that strength trading won't help. As Mark Rippetoe says "strong people are harder to kill." Being stronger is always better is my 2 cents.
 
@Crescere The impact on the joint is the main thing to stay away from. Unfortunately mane made joints are not as strong as the original.
 
While it's your choice as to how to rehab your knee, the point isn't that strength training is bad, it's that your knee needs time to heal from the assault that is a TKR before you start forcing it to do what your old knee did (and probably couldn't do any longer, since you needed a TKR). If you had a broken arm, you'd have a cast on for 6 weeks or so to immobilize it and allow it to fully heal, then your doctor would tell you to gradually rehab it until it was once again at full strength.

During a TKR, your knee, and everything inside, are hammered, sawed, cut, pushed around, and so on. That is much worse than just a broken bone, and it needs time to recover before being asked to carry heavy weights, or being slammed into a hard bag, etc.

You may get away with overdoing things, or you may find down the road you didn't really get away with it and your knee will rebel. But, in the great majority of people going through a TKR, slow and steady recovery is the very best long term approach. If you had never done the activities you stated above, but wanted to start, you'd never just jump right into the same training as a seasoned MMA or similar athlete does; instead you'd gradually work up to the point you want to get to.

The same goes for this baby knee; you need to first allow it to finish healing, then gradually work up to where you were before surgery; or as close to that place as your knee allows.

Again, it's your decision how to rehab your knee, but if you came here for advice, then listening to that advice, which comes from a point of knowledge, training and experience, would be a good decision on your part. Either way, we're here to help and will support your decision to go it your own way, even if we don't always agree.
 
I am NOT a medical person, but I instinctively disagree that strength trading won't help. As Mark Rippetoe says "strong people are harder to kill." Being stronger is always better is my 2 cents.
Strength training will be OK - but not until later.

Your replaced knee is very new. It's been through one of the most major surgeries it could have, with everything cut open, muscles and tendons pushed an pulled aside, your kneecap turned over during the surgery, the ends cut off two big bones and then those bone ends re-shaped to accommodate the metal prostheses. Then, two large metal parts were pushed and cemented into your cut bone ends, everything was put back into its correct place and your wound was closed and stitched in layers.
That's an awful lot of trauma.

Your new knee isn't weak or unfit now - it's wounded. It doesn't need strength training now. It needs time and gentle treatment, so it can heal. Your muscles will strengthen gradually as your knee heals.

When your knee is healed enough - by about 3 months post-op - you can gradually start some strengthening exercises. Start gently and work up the intensity gradually. Don't rush it. You don't want to set back your recovery, or upset the good work your surgeon has done.

You will be able to return to full strength training, but not quickly. It actually takes about a full year before all your knee tissues will have recovered completely from this surgery. It is a much longer recovery period than most people anticipate and it takes a great deal of patience - but it's worth it in the end. Trying to rush your recovery and doing too much, too soon, doesn't help - it usually has the opposite effect, increasing pain and swelling and slowing down progress.
 
The bonesmart way is to do what is best for you, based on what your doctor and PT's advise. Letting the swelling and pain subside before doing strength exercises made a lot of sense to me, so that is what I did. Luckily I have been blessed with two PT's that had this philosophy independent of my own desires, so I haven't had to fight off over aggressive PT. Having said that, my out patient PT that started on week 3 post TKR has included some strengthening exercises. I haven't noticed a lot of pain or swelling due to the exercises, but if I had I would have shut them down. See what works for you. And I would highly encourage you to talk to your surgeon about the life you would like to lead. I'm sure he would be able to give you some helpful advice and guidelines.

For sure, type A people that want to do to much too soon have a tougher recovery than people who let their knee be the arbiter of what should or shouldn't be done.
 

There is a lot of good advice and information here.
 
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Here is what needs to heal before you start aggressive therapy. You don't want to pull apart what is trying to knit back together. Closing stitching layers.
 
I think the surgeon in the podcast talks a lot of sense.

There is nothing wrong with strengthening, as long as it doesn't start too early and damage the healing tissues.
 

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