TKR Eeek’s recovery thread.

[Eeek]

@Jockette - nope, not a workman’s comp issue - I live outside the US anyway. PT in the hospital was great, really helpful and my first few sessions were fine. That’s why I stayed with the hospital. New PT, he wants to do “training”. Well, i am not ready for training. My poor quads need to heal. Give me stretches, walking....within reason.

 

[Jockette]

My PTs in the hospital were great, also. No exercises, just short walks. No measuring. I was only in overnight, though, so maybe it’s different for the total replacements at my hospital who stay longer. (mine is a partial)

You know your knee better than they do. Stay in charge!

 

[Celle]

New PT, he wants to do “training”. Well, i am not ready for training. My poor quads need to heal. Give me stretches, walking....within reason.

You're right and he is wrong. Tell him you won't be doing "training".

It's your knee and you are the only one with the right to say what will happen to it.
Saying no to therapy - am I allowed to?

 

[sistersinhim]

I did this squat thing 3 or 4 times at home. Very bad idea. Ugh. Pain.

Squats are very bad on a new knee. It is WAY too early to even try those.

I guess I‘m hitting a wall - I had very little pain to start, just did lots of adl at home, lots of rest, and now there are higher expectations and my body does not agree with this stuff.

All you need to do are ADL. Your body should be in control and no one else!

New PT, he wants to do “training”. Well, i am not ready for training. My poor quads need to heal. Give me stretches, walking....within reason.

Your knee can not train before it's healed. Right now, it's still a toddler, not even 1/6 of the way through at least a year of recovery. Let it stay in control and it will recover quicker and with less pain.

 

[Eeek]

Soooooooooo, I cancelled PT for the rest of the week. And then today, they called me to ask if I’d participate in a survey to assess the process. Excellent opportunity for feed back!

Today I just did walking, and iced for about 3 hours total. All in all, a good day.

 

[Jockette]

Let us know what the survey is like. Some don’t have a space for your own comments, just standard statements with a multiple choice answer.

And yay for canceling PT! Correction, formal PT. Your daily activities are physical and therapeutic.

 

[Eeek]

Actually, I expect it will be a survey. I don’t know the format for sure. It’s in German, so there will be translation too. My husband is coming to help with translation.

I’m ok with a survey though. I spent more than 25 years writing them myself....lots were in health care settings.

 

[Eeek]

On Saturday, we had gorgeous weather. My friend is still visiting from the US and we went to a small town on the Rhine. I walked for about an hour. It felt good. My operated leg is so stable and hardly hurts, though standing from sitting can create pain in my quads.

The best thing for me to do is to walk. It really helps.

Tomorrow is my OS follow up. He told me he‘d do my knees a minimum of three months apart, and I was planning for October, but my right (unoperated) knee needs to be replaced. So i‘m going to see if mid-July is a possibility - almost 5 months.

 

[Mutti3]

Quad pain does decrease, one day it will disappear. Walking is the best exercise.

 

[Eeek]

So...... follow up with the OS.

My knee looks good. ROM about 95-100. Minimal swelling. OS said I need to work harder to Increase ROM. I said, ok, i’ll walk more.

But, looks like we’re doing the other knee end of July....will update signature once it’s confirmed. Already had the CT for the next knee yesterday.

The study I participated in was to examine the usefulness of the pre op program - I attended two sessions meant to prepare me for surgery. It was interesting - because knee patients are diverse, there was a memory task to see if I was likely to remember my session, evaluation of the program with an opportunity for feedback, and then a sentence completion task to see if I understood simple administrative concepts such as following fasting instruction prior to surgery and contacting health insurance. This last part was really amusing because my German is not great. But my husband helped translate and it was fun.

 

[SusieShoes]

Walking more is a great way to strengthen the leg and get better flexion and extension. If you can do them, stairs or steps are also really good. Going up and down steps requires more bend than walking, so you’re working the muscles differently.

The study sounds interesting and I can see where it would be useful. Improving patient retention of information pre-op would have a positive result on patient post-op expectations and response. Plus you’re improving your German.

 

[Eeek]

Ok. So knee # 2 will be replaced July 24. looking forward to that!

 

[Jockette]

If you’re happy, I’m happy for you!

Me, I hope to never have to do this again!

 

[sistersinhim]

Me, I hope to never have to do this again!

You and me, too, Jockette! It's not what I'd call a fun time. But, the outcome is a better knee for me! Not, painfree, but better! Yay! We all want painfree, but better is better!!

 

[Mutti3]

I am very happy and excited for you! Eventually walking with little or no pain is a blessing with both knees bionic!

 

[Eeek]

Well, I have to do this. My right knee is really painful, unstable. Left is solid. If I don‘t fix the right, i‘m Still going to be miserable. So yep, I am happy.

 

[sistersinhim]

Next year this time, it'll be two brand new knees and a whole summer to look forward to!

 

[SherrieT]

Congratulations on your date!!

 

[Eeek]

A question about stairs. In PT, i learned to do stairs good leg up first, then bad and the reverse for going down. I‘m trying to do stairs every day as part of my adl. I don‘t have any stairs inside, but there are plenty at my apartment complex. The weather‘s nice, too.

Going up, i can do foot over foot slowly for a few stairs. Going down, my left leg is not strong enough to go down second and I realize that i‘ve been doing this subsconsciously for over a year. So in both cases my right leg bends more. And it‘s probably stronger. I suppose I need to somehow strengthen my left leg (the current bad leg/operated leg), so that once I have my right leg operated on in July, the left leg becomes the good leg.

So just do stairs as I can and walk? Try to work in foot over foot when i can?

I‘m noticing more and more that my right leg hurts all the time, but my left does not. Still the muscles in my right leg are probably stronger/have not been subjected to operative trauma.

Thanks for any ideas, etc.

 

[sistersinhim]

So just do stairs as I can and walk? Try to work in foot over foot when i can?

Yep, you got it. Your tkr should always be in control of what you do. You can do stairs foot over foot until your new knee starts to be painful, then stop. If you are in tune with your knee and 'obey' its messages, then you should be fine. The more you walk, the better that tkr knee will be. But, just don't overdo! You'll be sorry if you do cause your knee will get angry with you!