TKR Everything hurts!

CherryRed

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Into week 5 of recovery from my right TKR - left TKR was almost 9 years ago. Not sure if I overdid it in physiotherapy last week, but suddenly everything hurts - including my left knee! Everything feels as if it's moving differently - perhaps it's just my body realigning itself, but it's pain I wasn't expecting. I feel disinclined to do any exercise at all right now, which the physios frown upon - they say it will slow my recovery - but I am fearful of making things worse. I also think I should be farther along in my recovery by this time. Guess I'm just feeling sorry for myself today ☹️. It's good to know there are folks here who will understand.
 
Oh yes. The entire membership knows what you feel like. Best place to let it all out. WE truly understand.
Sending a big virtual HUG!
 
Hi, CherryRed. Welcome to BoneSmart. Yes, what you are feeling is normal, and I think you might feel better by skipping the exercises for a few days, spending a little more time resting, elevating, and icing. Your recovery will be just fine. Do move around the house taking it easy.

Since you're new to BoneSmart, I'd like to pass along our recovery guidelines and reading. The articles are generally short (because we know your attention span tends to be a little shorter after surgery). Check out the chart for what to expect during recovery. It's a guideline so you may not be exactly on where the chart says you might be, but don't expect too much from yourself at this point in recovery. Your knee is still doing a lot of major healing, and it needs all the energy it can get to do that.

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
elevate
ice
take your pain meds by prescription schedule (not when pain starts!)
don't overwork.
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
the BoneSmart view on exercise
BoneSmart philosophy for sensible post op therapy
5. At week 4 and after you should follow this Activity progression for TKRs

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.
 
Thank you, thank you, thank you, PolarBear60! These articles are so helpful. I had thought that because I've had one knee replaced, the second would be much easier. I think it's turning out to be the opposite. I also didn't expect setbacks - but I know that recovery doesn't happen in a straight line. I am so impatient with myself. I will take your advice re resting, elevating and icing for today. That's what feels right for now. Thanks so much for the support.
 
Yep, your post heading could have been mine, and I HATED finding out how long and how not in a straight line this recovery is. Hang in there, and give yourself a rest. You deserve it, and your knee will thank you. Looking forward to hearing more about your milestones as you move past this not-so-fun week.
 
Your body and knee especially will be glad for this rest - the exercises can wait.
 
A short break (or even a long one) from exercise might be just what your knee needs. See how things feel when your knee has settle down and maybe some swelling has diminished. If the pain gets worse, or you have reason for concern, contact your OS. But if it feels better, that will tell you something... that maybe your knee just needs a little TLC instead of more exercise.
 
I'd really like to offer you some structured advice but in order to do that, I also need to ask you some questions. Are you willing for me to do that?
 
You've learned you can't compare knees. For some of us the second knee is easier, but not always. It does sound like you overdid it and need to back off on the exercises. The key is to listen to the knee.
 
Quite of few of us never took PT or did exercises. We took care of our needs and used our knees in our daily living. That rehabbed our knees. The BoneSmart way is the best way to recover. Follow those guidelines and you're be much better off!
 
You say you hurt all over. I feel you!my surgery leg hurt from the top of my thigh to my toes. I have severe muscle and nerve pain. My doctor prescribed gabapentin for the nerve pain, which helped tremendously. I also use moist heat, massage and Diazapam for the muscle pain. The other side probably hurts because it's taking all your body weight and your gait is different. Hang in there! It will get better.


Sent from my iPad using BoneSmart Forum
 
My surgery was the day after yours and it also was my 2nd TKR. I know exactly how you feel! I was doing great until the end of last week when I hit a wall! Everything hurt, my new knee started swelling, my thigh hurt...etc, etc.. I rested, iced and elevated all weekend and even took a couple of pain pills. Today was a new day! Who would have thought? Each knee recovery has been completely different. As you know, this is a long and slow recovery. Try to take your time and give yourself time to rest and heal. We are all in this boat together!
 
We certainly are, southerncook! I hope your recovery is going well. My pain is much less this week - I have followed people's advice and have done much less exercise over the past week. I also decided to be a little less "heroic" about pain relief. I'm still doing my hour a week at the physiotherapy gym - I genuinely enjoyed my session yesterday, but I do need a day or so to recover. I have not yet found that all-important balance between increasing activity and rest. By the time I realise I've done too much, I am so fatigued I can't do anything at all. Fortunately I have an understanding husband. I must keep reminding myself, though, that bones and muscles are still mending, and that takes a lot of energy.
 
Tomorrow I'll be 7 weeks post-op, and I feel I'm recovering really well. Part of this, I'm sure, has been because with this knee, unlike with my other knee replacement, I did NOT push myself to do the rehab exercises when they hurt, or when my body told me to rest. I did overdo it one week -- the week that "everything hurt" -- but took the advice of this wonderful community and eased up after that. As a result, people are now expressing astonishment when they see me, because I am walking much better than I did before my surgery. I can't count how many people have said, over the last week, "I can't believe you've just had surgery!" (Well, 6 or 7 weeks isn't "just" -- but I certainly wasn't walking without a stick at this stage last time.)
But all this improvement brings new challenges -- though I'm walking really well, my energy levels are still low, and I get tired really easily. But because I look "normal," people (including my husband) think I am back to normal -- but I still feel quite low, physically and emotionally. So I don't feel like I can do the laundry, go shopping, unload the dishwasher, and cook dinner, at least not all in the same day! Hard to explain this to my loving and supportive but slightly impatient husband! And hard to explain to friends why I have to cancel plans, or don't feel ready to make them -- I am just so tired!
Is it OK to be this tired this far along? (I know if someone else were asking me that, I would say "Of course! Listen to your body and look after yourself!" Why is it so hard to treat ourselves with the same sort of kindness?)
 
For seven weeks out, you're doing great! It's a great feeling, too, when people notice how much better you're walking. I was a limper, too... lurched like Frankenstein's monster... so TKR has really made a big difference.

That energy drain, though. It's real. It's persistent. It eventually will pass.

Energy drain comes up a lot in discussions here because it happens to EVERYONE. Our bodies quite greedily hoard all the energy we produce and divert it to healing. This is a two-fold strategy by our brilliant bodies: 1) body has more energy to heal with, and 2) feeling tired keeps us from overtaxing our weakened bodies.

In other words, there's not much we can do about it except let our body get on with the healing so it can finish the job and give us back our energy.

While everyone is different and some get energy back sooner than others, it seems most have it back around 12 weeks. That was what happened for me. I was feeling better at week 8 but still took naps. At week 10 even better, but still tired sometimes. And at week 12 I was probably at 90%. Now at week 17, I can say I'm at 98%. Still healing, but mostly back to normal.
 
This surgery kicks people to the curb with energy drain. At six weeks I went to the grocery store for the first time since surgery. I bought a bag of cherries, walked to the meat section for chicken thighs, picked up a female product... and sat on a bench near checkout until my husband finished the shopping and we walked back to the car. He carried everything. When I got home, I collapsed into my recliner with bags of ice on my knees and slept for two hours. Everything exhausts us for the first few months.

You're at the point now where things should improve pretty quickly. You'll have days where you feel the energy come back, and also days where you wonder where it went. As more time passes, though, you'll have more and more days where you have some pep.
 
At almost 4 weeks, I take naps daily, and I am not doing anything but walking around the house, my exercise circuit, icing my knee and taking care of my personal needs. Hubby does all the cooking, shopping, and housekeeping. I don't rush through anything. But my full time job right now is rehab. I have gone on a couple of non- knee outings, but always have a plan for when and where to sit. People tell me I am doing very well, and I take all compliments joyfully. I am not sure the PT is thrilled with my progress, but he is gentle. I can see progress when I do heel slides in the bathroom (square tiles give an obvious measurement scale).
 

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