TKR erichknipp's Recovery Thread

erichknipp

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Well I am at home recovering, thank God. Doing 70 degrees in the CPM machine at the moment. The Conformis rep who was present for my TKR told my surgeon that my knee is the largest one they’ve built yet. So now when I say I am big boned, not fat, it is a matter of medical fact!
 
:welome: to recovery, @erichknipp .
I'm glad your surgery is over and you're now at home.

Please write updates and questions about your recovery in this thread from now on.

Here are the recovery guidelines we give to everyone with a new knee:
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. Try to 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 the 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 the member’s history before providing advice, so please post any updates or questions you have right here in this thread.
 
Glad you’re done & home! Hope your recovery goes well
 
Thanks. Right now I am just hoping to get past this constipation. It is miserable.
 
I'm happy you are home and resting. Did the Dr give you anything such as a stool softener to help with the constipation? I know it is extremely frustrating, but getting ahead of it is better than trying to fix it after a few days.:groan:
 
Welcome into recovery :yes!: glad to hear all went well.
Did your doctor prescribe anything for your constipation if not I always found eating "prunes " really helps.
 
@erichknipp I am glad the surgery is behind you. Funny, the surgeon said the same thing when he replaced my Dad's knees. He is 6'5" tall, size 17 shoes and just so big boned - the knees, the chest, the hands...doesn't look overweight, just big and strong as an ox. I didn't inherit his big bones - but I did inherit his arthritis. Good luck with your recovery. During yesterday's Bonesmart conference, the importance of keeping your weight down was mentioned by the surgeons more than once. What frustrates me - and I think so many Bonesmart members - is how difficult that is to maintain when your activity is much more limited than it was for such an extended period of time (and with a lockdown to boot). But the extra weight is so hard on the knees. Having said that, I know so many overweight folks with zero knee problems. Anyway, good luck and be sure to manage the pain.
 
Yes stool softener hasn’t done the job so far. Frustrating. Miralax and loads of water also. Eating 40g fiber per day besides.
 
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On the plus side, the knee is getting stronger and it moves great. I think that once the swelling goes down I will have awesome ROM.
 
Hallelujah things are moving. 3 days later. If this happens to you don’t lose hope just keep taking the Colace, eating the fiber and drinking loads of water. Coffee may help too.
 
Glad to hear you finally got everything moving, you may be sluggish going forward, but everything should start working with continued water, fiber, Colace, and coffee :mcoffee:.
 
I was taking Colace 2X a day and Miralax 3X as long as I was taking the pain meds. Once I got off of those things got back to normal.
 
My recovery is so far going pretty well. Had my first in-home PT visit today. I think that she could have pushed me a bit harder, given how effective the Oxycodone is at managing my pain, but we got to about 95 degrees on her heel slide manipulations. Feeling excited about the future.
 
Congrats on the new knee and that you are doing well. Did you have general anesthesia?
 
I think that she could have pushed me a bit harder, given how effective the Oxycodone is at managing my pain,
While a lot of people may say it's important to take a dose of pain medication just before a therapy session, that's not always a good idea. Pain medication will mask the pain, and that will encourage you to try to do more than is in your healing knee’s best interest. Pushing your knee to bend more than it is ready to do, especially in the early weeks, will only aggravate it and cause more swelling and inflammation, which will reduce your ROM, after that initial “gain” you pushed for.

Also, contrary to popular belief, it is not necessary to push for more in this recovery. Your knee and whole leg have been through the major trauma of this surgery. It honestly needs gentle treatment, so that trauma can heal. As you heal and get your swelling down, your bend will improve, by itself.
 
Congrats on the new knee and that you are doing well. Did you have general anesthesia?

Yes, along with both a spinal and a femoral nerve block. I didn't die :)
 
I think that she could have pushed me a bit harder, given how effective the Oxycodone is at managing my pain,
Contrary to poplar belief, it’s not a good idea to depend on pain medication to get you through PT. Pain medication will mask the pain, and that will encourage you to try to do more than is in your healing knee’s best interest. Pushing your knee to bend more than it wants to, especially in the early weeks, will only aggravate it and cause more swelling and inflammation, which will reduce your ROM, after that initial “gain” you pushed for.

Also, contrary to popular belief, it is not necessary to push for more in this recovery. Your knee and whole leg have been through the major trauma of this surgery. It honestly needs gentle treatment, so that trauma can heal. As you heal and get your swelling down, your bend will improve, by itself.

While I like your advice it contradicts that of my surgeon who has warned that if I don't make enough progress, scar tissue can build up and limit full range of motion. If that happens, then he has to do a manipulation under anesthesia to break up the scar tissue, and I effectively have to start over my rehab. I would like to avoid that! So, I don't want to overdo it, but I also don't want to under-do it.
 

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