TKR Four Months Post TKR

[Celle]

I think you are still doing too much activity. Ease off and your pain may decrease.
Your knee doesn't need to be exercised constantly. Just use it normally, in your activities of daily living.

By the way, I have moved your post, above, from someone's pre-op thread. It had nothing to do with that thread and was disrupting it.
Please remember to post about your knee in your own thread.

 

[Roux]

I am in my eight post op month. And still experiencing a lot of stiffness and decreased flexion..especially when I have been very active. has anyone experienced this during their recovery and how long can I expect this to persist. Thank you

 

[Pumpkin]

And still experiencing a lot of stiffness and decreased flexion..especially when I have been very active.

Your knee is still healing, and is telling you with stiffness and decreased flexion to better manage your activity. It is a balancing act, take more breaks while active, use ice and elevate as soon as you get home.
Your knee is still an infant, give it the TLC it needs.

 

[kneeper]

My OS told me to plan on a full year before things felt "normal" and he was right. Just when you think you'll never be over the stiffness with activity you start to notice that you're not noticing the knee as much.
As Pumpkln said, it's still all about finding the balance. I know it's frustrating to still be doing that at 8 months, but paying attention and backing off and ramping up as you're able to will save you some pain.
Hang in there.

 

[Roux]

Thank you. This is very helpful

 

[Roux]

Hello,

I have a question. I am entering my 10 th post op month and was doing very well. A few days ago i missed a step and fell landing on my operative knee on carpeted floor. No severe injury. I can walk and bend the knee. But have noticed over the last several days my knee feels swollen and is painful when I bend it. Not horrible pain and still better than before surgery. I know I didn’t break anything and don’t feel as though I damaged the implant. Is what I am feeling just inflammation from injury, and how long does that take to go away. I have been icing. Which helps. I have an appointment with ortho in October. Anyone else with similar story. Any input will help. I really would like to avoid running to ortho if possible. Thank you

 

[Roy Gardiner]

Yes, you've just damaged soft tissue. It will go away.

 

[Pumpkin]

Sorry to hear your fell, glad it was on carpet.
I agree with Roy, you have bruised and injured the soft tissue, as it heals your knee will feel better. Like all healing it takes time.

 

[sistersinhim]

Many of us have fallen on our knees and I'm one of them. The soft tissues swelled and hurt but after a few days, they began to feel better. After a while, I was back to normal.

 

[Roux]

i am approx 10 months post op, and while my operative knee is much improved since before my surgery, I still do not have the same amount of flexion I have with my non operative knee. I am able to walk distances, walk up and down the stairs normally, but worry my flexion will never be as good as my non operative knee. I always worry that I have scar tissue restricting my movement and preventing full flexion. I have no idea what degree of flexion i am at because it has not been measured since I left pt. any input will be appreciated.

 

[Jockette]

Some of us take longer to regain our ROM than others. Mine continued to improve in my second year post op, as my whole leg continued to relax and heal. I even had more improvement in my second and third years post op! Don’t give up yet.

The fact that you can walk distances, and walk up and down the stairs normally, is really good. The rest will come in time.

 

[Tykey]

My 10 year old and my one year old tkrs, have identical bends, plenty for 95% of things I want to do. We can never expect them to be as they used to be before the damage started to take effect.
But it does take about a year to be almost as good as its going to get.

 

[kneeper]

Just keep using your knee in daily activities that require you to bend and I bet you'll see a bit more progress that happens naturally. That's what seemed to happen with me.

 

[Tykey]

I'm the same as kneeper, when the healing is done it just needs stretching, so I made sure I kicked my heels up when walking.

 

[Roux]

Wondering if anyone knows anything about Graston technique. I have some scar tissue in my knee that I can feel when I flex the knee. After accidentally falling 3 weeks ago, I have noticed increased pain and decreased flexion in my knee. I have been icing and elevating, but have an autoimmune disorder And I am concerned that The jarring injury may have caused some scar tissue to develop causing these problems. I can still walk up and down the stairs and do the recumbent bike. But it is more painful . I thought if it was just soft tissue swelling it should be better by now. And I am pretty sure no implant issues. Any input would be appreciated

 

[kneeper]

I had a PT that tried it on me. I'm not sure it was actually scar tissue. It just made things more painful.

 

[Jockette]

Personally I would never consent to the Graston technique.

Scar tissue gets incorrectly blamed for a lot of things. You are most likely feeling some swelling in your knee. My knee was quite the drama queen my whole first year, if anything happened that it didn’t like. However, I had a lot of improvement in my second year, and even some more in my third year, so don’t give up hope that things will improve.

 

[Roux]

Personally I would never consent to the Graston technique

jockette,
why would you not try Graston? Can you explain. So I am more informed. Thank you

 

[Jockette]

I feel that, for me, the Graston Technique is too aggressive. My son had it done on his incision after a broken arm required surgery. (He was an adult at the time) His PT told him they had to do it or his incision would not heal properly. He said it hurt quite a bit, but he believed the theory of no pain, no gain. I can’t imagine having a rough and painful treatment on a recent incision, his was about 6” long.

My whole leg was sore for a long time after my surgery and I wouldn’t want that technique done on any part of my sore leg after this surgery. It seems to me that it would only upset a sore leg even more.

I also don’t believe all the tales we hear about scar tissue, so I am opposed to a painful treatment to “try to reduce it.“ I believe Time will take care of our healing.

 

[Roux]

Thank you