Hi Dorothy and all. Went for my PT assessment yesterday. I saw a nice young man who carried out an examination. He checked for looseness, misalignment, knee flexibility, strength, ROM. He observed me walking on the flat and using the stairs. All A-OK. He asked what my hobbies were (dancing and gardening) which I said I could now do, although not as much as pre op. He asked if there was anything I couldn't do in my day to day life. I said I could do everything. He asked if I had pain - No.
At this point I could tell by the look on his face he thought I was a time waster. So, Mrs C what actually is the problem? My chance at last. I said imagine if you had a tight chord around any part of your body. And every now and then the chord was turned so that it got even tighter. You couldn't remove the chord except when you went to bed. Well, that is MY PROBLEM. My knee is all tied up very very tightly. And its tiring.
I don't know if he was guessing or what, but he said the problem lay in my quad muscles and the muscles in my bottom - both were weak. Although why the muscles in my bottom should cause problems in my knee I never found out. He said these weak muscles were trying to do more than they were comfortable with. This in turn was PROBABLY causing the tightness.
I have to apply heat to my knee followed by my massaging it for 10 mins twice daily. This was to relax and soften the quad muscles. He also gave me a couple of exercises to strengthen quads/muscles in my bottom. I have a second appt. in 2 weeks. He said if after the 6 PT sessions nothing had changed, he would write to my doctor advising a referral to the surgeon, although he cautioned against further surgery on the basis that the possible negatives out weighed the possible benefits.
I've been doing the massage and new exercises today. Its too early to tell if it will make a difference. After the massage my knee doesn't feel any better - in fact it could even be a bit tighter!
I will keep an open mind for the present, but as things stand I don't think I would opt for further surgery - in fact I doubt it would even be offered. So the saga goes on. Instead of saying `it can take as long as 12mths to recover' I think I will be saying `it can take as long as 2 years'. I am trying very hard not to think about the time when the other knee will have to be done. Dorothy, Bonesmarties, looks like I will be around for a while yet. Carol
United States
@patient 99
Did you have therapy today ? I hope 
In her pocket.
) And hopefully that will remove the irritation around your knee causing the rubberband feeling. The muscles work together throughout your body, some provide stability (core muscles) and some provide mobility (arms, legs, and neck).
