@Dad Run Track You've been given wonderful advice, but I wanted to add about overdoing and paying for it later. My surgeon is adamant that less is better in the first 12 wks after TKR. He is tired of seeing people thinking or being told by PTs that they need to be doing more, healing faster, bending more, etc. Many of his patients come in for a 4 wk checkup and 8 wk checkup with
more swelling/inflammation/pain than they had in the FIRST 3 WEEKS post-op.....all because they are doing too much. Often times they even had more range of motion before starting outpatient PT, but their numbers dropped because of the PT and doing too much. He is a revision/reconstruction specialist who does >350 knees/hips a year. He is used to fixing weird problems and other surgeon's problems. After 20 yrs of that, he has seen/done it ALL.....so this time around, you better believe I listened to him.
From my own experience with 11 sports-related surgical recoveries, then my TKR this past May, the biggest thing to remember is this is NOT the same recovery as an athletic injury recovery/surgery. It's apples and oranges, so you can't compare. Not all PTs even agree on rehab protocols, and many don't agree with the surgeons that sent you there in the first place. It boggles the mind on exactly what is/isn't the norm after surgery. The best thing to remember is no two people recover the same way or in the same time, and for many with bilateral TKR or having one knee done months before the other, even the same person's two knees don't heal identically.
Also keep in mind your bones were cut/sawed upon, your bones were drilled into, and your kneecap was pulled back from your knee. All your soft tissues were severely traumatized. Then you were put back together again and told to "WALK!!!"
So yeah---no matter how fast YOU want to heal, your body will do so in its own time, and you can slow things down by overdoing. My surgeon has told me three times now (along with a friend who had his TKR 4 months before me) that we are his worst type of patients----Type A control freaks who don't like to sit and love to exercise/stay active and think they need to be healed yesterday.
We're the ones who end up stuck in a chronic inflammation cycle and keep asking why our knee isn't 100% yet. His response is "
Hey, I did my job and told you what NOT to do. It's your fault you won't slow down and let your body heal." He said it to my friend, the friend's wife (trying to get her to convince the guy to stay off the baseball field at 4 months post-op), and then reminded me of it at my 6 month checkup.
So please don't fall into the thought trap of
"I'm being lazy" or
"I'm not healing fast enough." I was lucky---I'd had 10 previous knee surgeries to pull from and know I don't heal as fast as many. I swell horribly after surgery, it lingers F.O.R.E.V.E.R., and I get lots of rebound swelling from aggressive PT. I'm a VERY active, busy person though plus a 6-day/week gym rat and outdoorsy person. Unfortunately, that HAD to change this time around--though I still started a walking program with hills too soon and aggressively.
I'm 7 months out and JUST NOW back to normal activity/sports, though I still get loads of swelling and end up with a peg-leg by the end of most days. My surgeon loves to remind me TKR is often a full 12-month recovery, and mine may take 18 months due to the trauma that knee has been through in the last 6 yrs. There is just absolutely nothing to do but be patient and wait.