Bilateral TKR Double Manipulation scheduled - What to expect?

Dad Run Track

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It's good to be on the otherside Had Bilateral on 12/11/19 (4) days out and feeling a little better each day but still in lot of pain but taking meds and doing PT. Both at once is not fun but hoping I can have success like other people in this forum. Thanks for the support.
 
Hello @Dad Run Track - and :welome:to recovery.

I've moved your post from the December Supernovas thread and started a recovery thread for you.
The monthly surgery threads are mostly used for listing who is having surgery around the same time as you are, so you can see who will be your recovery buddies.

Updates about each person's recovery should be posted in their own, individual recovery threads. So please continue to write about your recovery in this thread,

I'm glad your surgery is over.

Here are the Recovery Guidelines and some helpful articles for you:
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

6. Access to 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.
 
Welcome to Bonesmart, @Dad Run Track. This is the best place to learn all about what to expect following a joint replacement. We're all here to help each other through the bad times and celebrate the good times. Be sure and read the articles left for you by Celle. They have been developed by comprising years of different patients' experience and they are extremely helpful.
 
What should my 2 weeks goals be for bilateral TKR?
Tommorrow -Wednesday is one week post-op and I feel I should be doing more and feeling better than I do.
I am also seeing my surgeon wednesday, before he takes a few weeks vacation for the holiday's.
Anyting I should ask him during my visit?
I have not found much info on Bilateral recovery and looking for support
Thanks
Frank
 
What should my 2 weeks goals be for bilateral TKR?
There are no goals you should set for this recovery. Your knees are going to recover at their own pace, regardless of what you or anyone else wants.
The first month is a time for healing - rest, ice, elevate, take your medications on a regular schedule, and just move your knees gently. Walking around your house is enough exercise fore the first month.

Basically, recovery after bilaterals is very similar to recovery after a single TKR - except that mobilization is a bit harder initially, because you don't have a "good" leg to take the load.

@Roy Gardiner had bilaterals. I'll ask him to come and talk to you.
 
What should my 2 weeks goals be for bilateral TKR?
None.

When you are icing and elevating and watching telly you are not 'dossing around' you are 'engaging a carefully considered proactively designed heuristically programmed dynamically structured recovery programme'.
 
Thanks everyone for your support and encouragement.
I am doing all of the above and each day just a little better than the last. I am looking forward to spending more time out of the recliner than in it.
Funny thing about PT - is the more I do, the more sore I am. Trying to reduce meds 5/323 Q4 but if I do, the results will be is - less activities I am willing to do due to post PT pain. It doesn't hurt so much during my PT session, but the hours after and into the night are terrible.
 
This early in recovery you don’t need a lot of activity. You need rest so your knee can heal. Gentle movements and short walks are all the “PT” you need at this point.


Regaining our ROM is more about Time than repetitions of a list of exercises.

Time to recover.
Time for pain and swelling to settle.
Time to heal.

Our range of motion is right there all
along just waiting for that to happen so it can show itself.

In the general run of things, it doesn't need to be fought for, worked hard for or worried about. It will happen. Normal activity is the key to success.
 
@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!!!" :bolt:

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. :banghead: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. :flabber::hairpulling:
 
@Celle or another moderator-----Can you get rid of the attachment stuck in my post above? I think I added a window by mistake. It doesn't show up when I try to edit my own post, so I can't delete it on my own. It has nothing to do with my post either. :)
 
Good morning forum friends. I'm three weeks out from surgery on both legs. Most indicators are going well. I am walking around house without support and doing stairs. Have 90 degree bends on both knees with some help from my PT. Can walk around the block outdoors with a cane. The more activity I do - the stiffer my knees are, after PT sessions, my legs feels like I have two casts and very hard to bend. So I am alternating days rest/activities. My problem is I am not sleeping well. 2 to 3 hours at a time. Tried going back to my bed but the recliner is just more secure and keeps me from rolling over in my sleep. I really don't want to take more meds, trying to reduce my current prescription. When I asked my doctor about this, he suggested Benadryl might help. Any insights or suggestions to improve my sleep would be appreciated.
 
@Dad Run Track ,
You'll notice that I have merged your newest thread with your original recovery thread. For several reasons, we prefer that you only have one recovery thread:
  • That way, we have all your information in one place. This makes it easier to go back and review your history before providing advice.
  • If you keep starting new threads, you miss the posts and advice others have left for you in the old threads, and some information may be unnecessarily repeated
  • Having only one thread will act as a diary of your progress that you can look back on.
So please post any updates, questions or concerns about your recovery here. If you prefer a different thread title, just post what you want and we'll get it changed for you.
If you need an urgent response to a question, just tag a member of staff.

Many members bookmark their thread in their computer browser, so they can find it when they log on.
 
Poor sleep goes along with joint replacement.
Sleep deprivation is pretty much inevitable - but what causes it?
We even have a thread in the Social Room for members up at wee hours of the morning.

The more activity I do - the stiffer my knees are, after PT sessions, my legs feels like I have two casts and very hard to bend.
Suggest you are doing too much for your recently operated knees, and may benefit from cutting back on your activity to a level where you are doing the appropriate amount of exercise and activity for your knees in these early days. You also may sleep better.

Start with cutting back half your activities and exercise, then increase slowly as your tolerance for activity increases. It is a balancing act, in the end you will be rewarded with having your life back.
 
The more activity I do - the stiffer my knees are, after PT sessions, my legs feels like I have two casts and very hard to bend.
This means you are doing more than your 3 week old knees are ready to do. Many PTs don’t understand this surgery and recovery and give us way more PT than our knee even needs, thus causing set backs.

This is a year long recovery, so at only 3 weeks you need to be treating your knees very gently.
 
Just had my 6 week post op visit with my surgeon. I am just a little better than 90 degree bend on both with no force.
Surgeon said he would like me to be closer to 120 bend and has scheduled a manipulation next week on both legs.

I'm a little nervous about going under again and he said this time he will add a nerve block during the proceedure and then back to PT the next day.
For the people that have done this: Does it help and any advice -should I be nervous?
 
@Dad Run Track
You'll notice that I have merged your two threads together as we prefer that members in recovery only have one thread. This is the second time we have had to merge threads for you. Please don't keep starting new threads.

We prefer one thread for three reasons:
1. if you keep starting new threads, you miss the posts others have left you in the old threads
2. it often ends up that information is unnecessarily repeated
3. it's best if we can keep all your recovery story in one place so it's easily accessed if we need to advise you.

Please keep all your questions and updates on this one thread. Don't worry that we won't see your questoins as, between us, staff read all new posts every day.
If you would like a new thread title just post what you would like it to be and we'll change it for you
 
I’m in a similar situation, though my surgeon has given me a little more time to improve on my own. I’ve got until Jan. 31 to decide whether to reject or accept the MUA procedure because I doubt I will hit the marks my doctor has set. I’m not sure which way I will go.

If you follow the BoneSmart approach, it would suggest that an MUA is the epitome of ‘making matters worse’ for many people. So, it’s a hard choice.The research shows, if I understand correctly, that in the long run, you won’t be any better off with an MUA, but in the short run, it can feel successful in a high percent of people.

There are people on BoneSmart who tell their MUA stories. You can find them by the MUA tag. When you find one, look at the date of the MUA in their signature, then hunt down the posts around that date to see what it was like for them, in the short run.
 

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