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PKR Freya's Recovery - Second PKR

That old knee will have taken on the extra load. I have only had my left knee done but my right knee was always the knee that caused problems until last year when my left knee decided to develope problems resulting in a PKR in October 2021. My right knee had to take on the extra load and I now have two knees that feel achey and sore, in fact my left operated knee sometimes feels better than my right. I am hoping that with time and recovery of left knee everything will balance out and both will recover. Here's hoping that both your knees meet in full recovery some time soon :SUNsmile:
 
@Carol Anna I hope that's the case but my May knee has been causing me problems since before my December knee surgery. :(

Also - officially graduated physical therapy! Did my full 8 weeks twice a week. On the last appointment they've measured strenght in my legs. Left knee - strenght of 10lbs. Right knee - 32lbs.

Apparently the golden standard is that the leg strenght should be close to the body weight... I weight about 142lbs so I have a long way to go... My legs do feel very weak.

So from now on, going to focus on increasing my quads strenght.
 
@Freya34 .... you're still very early in recovery for your left knee. It will take a while to get the kind of strength your therapist is talking about in either leg, so please be careful not to push yourself too hard to get there. Slow and steady is best. Normally we advise folks to hold off until 4-6 months out from surgery to begin any serious strength training. But as long as you're not getting any pain during or up to a day or so after quad exercises, you should be okay.
 
I'm curious if anyone has experience with knee arthroscopy? Is it very invasive? Is the recovery similar to knee replacement surgeries?
 
I think it depends on what they do in the arthroscopy, but I would think not as hard as recovering from a TKR.

Why do you ask? Has it been suggested to you?
 
I had an arthroscopy on my right knee and recovery from the op was much quicker and much less painful. I still had minor problems for a year or so. I remember saying then that I wish I had never had it done as I swapped one pain for another but that passed as the knee improved. It was no where near as bad as recovery from my left PKR. I had less problems for a few years but now I think my knee might be in line for a replacement - the question is - can I go through another replacement.
 
I’ve had four arthroscopic surgeries - three meniscectomies years ago and then (with TKR / open arthrolysis / revision in between) an arthroscopic LOA/MUA just 9 days ago.

The pain and discomfort from the arthroscopic procedure is not even 10% of what recovery from a TKR is like.
 
@Jockette it was recommended to check for scar tissue that might be a source of problems I have now.
@WFD that's a relief to hear that the recovery is not as bad as post replacement. I don't think I could handle another long recovery.

Still considering it. Going to talk to a doctor on Monday about it again.
 
Which knee are they recommending it for?
 
I've had 9 arthroscopic surgeries through the years. The recovery is a breeze compared with the recovery from a joint replacement.

Each one of your knees is still healing and just needs more time for the ROM to come in. When you had your left PKR your right one was not healed yet and is inflamed because of all the work and weight that has been put on it with this new replacement. I suggest you give each knee at least a year before considering that you might have adhesion. Of course, you have scar tissue, that's what holds your knee together!

Adhesions and scar tissue are two different things. Used correctly, the term scarring refers to the stuff that heals your wounds whether it's a surgical incision or a small cut with a kitchen knife. That is necessary to close your wound. Adhesions are excess fibrous tissue that sticks muscles, tendons, and ligaments down so they can't move the way they should. It looks something like this

[Bonesmart.org] Freya's Recovery - Second PKR


Obviously, the scarring is necessary and if it doesn't develop, you'd be in trouble with a permanently open wound!
But adhesions are abnormal and actually relatively uncommon. They occur a lot less frequently than 'professionals' would have you believe. But so long as they can convince patients of this 'inevitable' demon, they will get compliant patients! That's the philosophy! Don't fall for it.
 
Freya34 said:
So from now on, going to focus on increasing my quads strenght.
Click to expand...
Hi @Freya34 , as others have already mentioned, it'd be best to take things slowly in this regard. When using your own bodyweight for strengthening exercises, you will very quickly find out how far you can push without incurring pain - and can immediately adjust to a more supported stance. The weights machines can be trickier as you can set them to very low resistance and find the exercise very easy to do and easily over do it by doing too many reps ... at least that's what I've learned the hard way myself. I later on adjusted to increasing number or reps only once a week - only when I can do x-number of reps without incurring an after-workout price (pain, swelling, aches, etc), did I increase the weight and decreased the number of reps the next time around. Slow, incremental steps forward worked best for me ... kind of like carefully setting the foundation, taking care that everything remains okay before proceeding forward.

All the best on your continued recovery/rehab!
 
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Thank you everyone! I'm really on the fence about this. Doctor recommended it for my right knee that I had a surgery last May. I showed him what I thought was a weird "dip" that happens on the outside of my knee when I bend it, and he said it might look like the scar tissue gets suck in there. Overall it's almost 10 months past surgery but I get sharp pain outside of my knee when I walk down the stairs or squat. Extending is also difficult. I also feel a lot of "snapping" when I extend and bend the knee.

I'm really not sure how to progress from here. I don't want another surgery but I also don't want this sharp pain. My December knee feels amazing compared to this knee.

So at this point I don't know if I should go with that arthroscopy or wait longer to see of this pain will go away...
 
@Freya34 , make sure to ask whether or not they will use a debrider or an electrocauterization tool to remove scar tissue. The electrocauterization tool burns off the scar tissue, automatically cauterizing it and reducing the chances of bleeding. A debrider uses teeth to cut the scar tissue off and that can result in a lot of bleeding.

Bleeding can lead to more scar tissue formation.

My recent surgery was done with an electrocauterization tool and after the operation I actually had *less* swelling and pain than before.
 
Just my opinion, if it was me, and I have felt like this all along with mine, I would not have another surgical procedure on a knee less than a year old, which is still healing. I wouldn’t even have wanted it, unless it was extremely necessary, in my second year. I would think it would introduce more trauma to the problem area and will also have to heal from that. I was, and still am, hoping to go a long as I can before I have another procedure on my knee.

I have learned, to my dismay, that Patellofemorals do not have a good success rate, especially if a surgeon hasn’t done very many of them. No one has offered me any surgical procedures to fix mine, so I’m glad I’ve had 5 years for my knee to heal and settle down, before my possible/probable revision. The less trauma introduced to the leg, if possible, the better, in my opinion. (Of course there are obvious exceptions to that.)

I‘m sure it’s a hard decision for you to make, continual pain and limitations are draining, been there, done that! :console2:
 
So I decided to go with antroscopy after all. Had the surgery yesterday. I was literally in and out, the whole surgery took like 30 minutes. Up to the last moment I wasn't sure it was a right decision. I was really doubting myself.

But after the surgery my doctor said it's good that we did it, because I had a ton of scar tissue in places where it shouldn't been. He said he even had to take pictures to show me lol.

Right now my knee is swollen but I have almost zero pain. I can bend it also. It's a day and night compared to replacement surgery recovery haha.

Now here's to hope that once the knee fully heals I'll be able to use it without pain.

I hope my other knee won't have any scar tissue problems. But its too early to say I guess.
 
Thanks for letting us know how well things went. No one can really say in advance whether you will develop adhesions or not following a procedure. But be sure to go slowly with your recovery from this one. Lots of bending and stretching, but don't push so hard (or have anyone else do it) that you have real pain. You want a "cool knee" meaning no inflammation right now.

It sounds like you definitely made the correct choice to have this done.
 
@Jamie thank you. I'm definately taking things slowly. Relaxing with ice packs on, mostly. I know it sounds weird but I was really happy doctor found that scar tissue. At least I know I wasn't crazy and didn't imagine that weird pain in my knee.
 
I'm relieved he found it as well. Sometimes that's not always the case when someone is fairly recent out of surgery, meaning the doc has to look harder for the source of any pain.
 
I totally understand that you are happy that they found something they could do something about - it must be awful for those who have problems with no solution and I am hoping and praying that you will now have a great recovery. Onward and upward!
 
Had my stitches taken out today and the nurse said my scar tissue problems are indeed pretty rare. She said they do maybe 3 - 4 surgeries like mine per year.
I feel like i unlocked some type of achievement haha.

Overall things are going OK. I'm struggling a bit because my quads are weak but it's hopefully just a matter of time and exercises to get back to 100%.

I continuously appreciate all the support I get from this forum and its users <3
 
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