United StatesI respect your surgeon's viewpoint about healing, but we find this is not always good advice for everyone to push for certain numbers by a certain time. Over the years we've seen many patients who react to aggressive therapy with swelling and pain. This creates a "hot" inflamed joint that actually IS likely to develop not scar tissue, but arthrofibrosis. Some people tend to refer to this condition as "scar tissue," but it's not at all like the important scar tissue your body creates as part of the healing process. And arthrofibrisis tends to be more of a problem on knees that have had a lot of surgery or following revision surgery. You are not in either of those categories.
I suggest you do some reading on some of the threads here in the recovery forum where people have tried to push themselves and only found things improving when they backed off a bit and let their knee have time to heal first.
If you read our tab at the top of the page on Wound Healing, you'll see the physical tissue repair process that must take place.
I will also tell you that many of our patients obtain ROM well beyond the first few months of recovery. We do not see evidence of a "window of opportunity" where your knee will freeze up at a particular point, never to gain any more bend.
Please consider the other side of the coin from what your surgeon is telling you. Not everyone in the orthopedic community shares his viewpoint. There is no "one size fits all" recovery. Each of us is unique and recovers at our body's own speed.
That said, we certainly are not suggesting that you do nothing in terms of exercise. We want our BoneSmarties to listen to their bodies and respond accordingly as they proceed through any exercise or therapy program. Some people can be more aggressive with their therapy and that's great. They might give their knee a pretty good workout and not be sore or swollen then next day. Perfect. But, if you find yourself hurting during exercise or in the 24 hours following a therapy session, then that's too much for you at that point. You should scale back to more gentle movements for shorter periods of time for a while. Make your activity and exercise increases in slow increments. Do a lot of gentle bending and stretching throughout each day. Do some turns on a stationary bike if you have one. Gradually build up your walking. Therapy is best done as a gradual progression, paying attention to each session and how your body feels afterwards.
This is why we recommend that you not take pain medications just prior to therapy. When your pain response is masked, it's too easy to overdo things and not realize it. It's difficult to read your body when you don't have access to any pain signals at all.
I realize you'll make the choice that you feel is best. Just know that if the aggressive approach doesn't seem to be working too well, that you have options. Please don't feel threatened by an MUA. You have the right to say yes or no to that procedure at any point in time. You are not even a week out of surgery and it's way too soon to be talking about an MUA anyway. Focus more on how your body feels and letting it have some time to heal properly. You know your body better than anyone and you are a partner in your recovery WITH your surgeon. It's okay to tell him when something isn't working well for you so you can both make appropriate adjustments.
I suggest you do some reading on some of the threads here in the recovery forum where people have tried to push themselves and only found things improving when they backed off a bit and let their knee have time to heal first.
If you read our tab at the top of the page on Wound Healing, you'll see the physical tissue repair process that must take place.
I will also tell you that many of our patients obtain ROM well beyond the first few months of recovery. We do not see evidence of a "window of opportunity" where your knee will freeze up at a particular point, never to gain any more bend.
Please consider the other side of the coin from what your surgeon is telling you. Not everyone in the orthopedic community shares his viewpoint. There is no "one size fits all" recovery. Each of us is unique and recovers at our body's own speed.
That said, we certainly are not suggesting that you do nothing in terms of exercise. We want our BoneSmarties to listen to their bodies and respond accordingly as they proceed through any exercise or therapy program. Some people can be more aggressive with their therapy and that's great. They might give their knee a pretty good workout and not be sore or swollen then next day. Perfect. But, if you find yourself hurting during exercise or in the 24 hours following a therapy session, then that's too much for you at that point. You should scale back to more gentle movements for shorter periods of time for a while. Make your activity and exercise increases in slow increments. Do a lot of gentle bending and stretching throughout each day. Do some turns on a stationary bike if you have one. Gradually build up your walking. Therapy is best done as a gradual progression, paying attention to each session and how your body feels afterwards.
This is why we recommend that you not take pain medications just prior to therapy. When your pain response is masked, it's too easy to overdo things and not realize it. It's difficult to read your body when you don't have access to any pain signals at all.
I realize you'll make the choice that you feel is best. Just know that if the aggressive approach doesn't seem to be working too well, that you have options. Please don't feel threatened by an MUA. You have the right to say yes or no to that procedure at any point in time. You are not even a week out of surgery and it's way too soon to be talking about an MUA anyway. Focus more on how your body feels and letting it have some time to heal properly. You know your body better than anyone and you are a partner in your recovery WITH your surgeon. It's okay to tell him when something isn't working well for you so you can both make appropriate adjustments.
