TKR Golfer with ?

[lauderdalereb]

RTKR 2/15/22 and missing the golf course. Wondering how long most took to get on course after knee replacement and playing at preop levels. I’ve greatly benefited from this forum and have been encouraged by experience of others. Thanks in advance.

 

[Layla]

Hello and Welcome to BoneSmart. Thanks for joining us!
We thank you for your positive words in regard to the forum and we’re happy to read that you’ve been encouraged here through others shared experiences.

I’ll leave our Recovery Guidelines as some will still apply. I’m not sure about the return to golf as I’m not a golfer, nor have I experienced TKR, but I’m sure others will stop by and share when they returned to golf.

Wishing you all the best as you continue on your healing journey. Stay in touch!

Knee Recovery: The Guidelines

As you begin healing, please keep in mind that each recovery is unique. While the BoneSmart philosophy successfully works for many, there will be exceptions. Between the recommendations found here, your surgeon's recovery protocol and any physical therapy you may engage in, the key is to find what works best for you.


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
6. Access these pages on the website
Oral And Intravenous Pain Medications
Wound Care In Hospital


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.
@lauderdalereb

 

[Jockette]

Hi and Welcome!

Here is a member who got back to golfing, just keep in mind we all recover at our body’s own rate, so your time will probably be a bit different.

TKR - Round Two

Hi! I am new to this forum. Happy to find it! My daughter was able to stay and help, but goes home today! It's more work than I thought, and I am very worried about having hubby take over. I have been to PT twice, making progress, I guess ..I am just so scared of my tub/shower combo, it was so...

bonesmart.org

 

[Roy Gardiner]

Wondering how long most took to get on course after knee replacement

Your knee will tell you. Just a little bit more every day, no big step-ups.

playing at preop levels

My sport is cycling, and it's better than pre-op as my knees don't trouble me. I see no reason why that shouldn't apply to golf, eventually.

 

[LTsailor]

LTKR on december 23rd. I was given the go ahead to putt and chip at my 6 week checkup which I tried at week 7 and 8. Things went really well till I tried hitting a few longer irons, SORE. I believe it was because of the lateral motion, so i worked on strengthing the knee laterally. At 13 weeks i tried a round, GREAT, so I tried another a couple of days later. Great again. Unfortunately, i live at tahoe, so golfing is a bit of a distance to get out of the snow so I'm stuck with only those 2 rounds 2 weeks ago.
By the way, I'm a very active 64 year old female who has been working really hard on the recovery.

 

[lauderdalereb]

LTKR on december 23rd. I was given the go ahead to putt and chip at my 6 week checkup which I tried at week 7 and 8. Things went really well till I tried hitting a few longer irons, SORE. I believe it was because of the lateral motion, so i worked on strengthing the knee laterally. At 13 weeks i tried a round, GREAT, so I tried another a couple of days later. Great again. Unfortunately, i live at tahoe, so golfing is a bit of a distance to get out of the snow so I'm stuck with only those 2 rounds 2 weeks ago.
By the way, I'm a very active 64 year old female who has been working really hard on the recovery.

Thank you. Little over 7 weeks now and have been to putt once. Being in Mississippi, it’s great weather for golf and tough seeing them on the course as I drive home from work.

I’m 62 and still working and went back to work at 2 weeks which I know was a mistake. I’m a physician and just didn’t think I could be off longer. I think that has kept me from engaging in as much rehab and exercise that I could’ve gotten otherwise but I’m at 115 flexion and almost completely straight but still dealing with good bit of pain by end of day. It’s slow recovery but I’m hoping I can be ready to play a tournament in early June that I love to play yearly.

 

[Starsfan22]

Watching Tiger Woods at Masters today is inspiring. We don't know the extent of his injuries but it was said to be extensive. He's an inspiration to us all!

 

[LTsailor]

Glad to give you an uplift. Also, just to let you know, even though golf was great i still had a bit of trouble with drives at first. No pain, but hesitancy to really put weight on left knee. Score showed that, but it was great to get out there. Last fall i was in constant pain after about 3 holes.
I was at 0 extension and 125 flex at 6 weeks, thats when i started really working on strengthening. Now i bike or hike every day plus exercises (now down to 2 days a week). Really no pain, but swelling daily

 

[Susie-Q]

It’s slow recovery but I’m hoping I can be ready to play a tournament in early June that I love to play yearly.

Please don't be too upset if you can't play all 18 holes by this date. You'll only be 4 months post-op in this year-long recovery. Be sure to ease back into things slowly and listen to your knee when it tells you you've done too much.

 

[Jamie]

Don't beat yourself up about not having time or energy to do official therapy. Going back to work IS therapy....and, as you've noticed a bit too much at that. This is why you're hurting. Your knee is tender and still healing and it will react to being on your feet and moving around all day with pain and swelling. Your ROM is just fine for 7 weeks out. It will help if you can ice and elevate your leg a little during the day (like at lunchtime) and then immediately when you get home. Try not to run errands or do things around the house. Allowing yourself some personal down time for recovery will help you get back to the golf course sooner. The more you push your knee and it stays inflamed (hurting) by the end of the day, the longer it will take to start feeling better.

 

[MarkTKR]

Hello Golfers... adding my thoughts here...

I scheduled and had LTKR on Dec 23 2021. The first week was tough, but I was determined to get through it fast. I literally became what my PT person called the "Poster boy of LTKR". I was doing full circle cycle motion just two weeks out. I was walking on it and feeling strong.

I went from walker to a walking stick to using nothing. On Jan 13th, basically 3 weeks out I had 110 plus degrees of motion and was feeling GREAT. Now I just needed old man Winter to get out of the way so I could enjoy a summer of golf!

But on that fateful day disaster struck. While at PT a bench I was sitting on gave way and I fell doing what any normal human would do to stop their fall. I put my feet down and felt a painful very loud pop in my left knee!

In that instant I think a thousand thought shot through my mind about damage I'd done to my implants or whatever. But I could not put any weight on my left leg at all without it buckling painfully.

I was taken to x-ray and my surgeon saw me within about 30 minutes and he figured I'd ruptured either the quad or patella tendon. An MRI was scheduled for the next day (Friday) then I had to wait until the following Tuesday to hear the result. Talk about a black weekend. I walked in with not even a cane and left in a wheelchair!

I read up on Quad and Pateller tendon repairs and I prayed (not a church going man) but did I pray it was not either of those. But I found out on the Tuesday the MRI clearly showed a ruptured pateller tendon. So there it was... I was now facing another surgery when they could get me in and 6 weeks in a straight leg cast followed by a long recovery to get functional again. No choice but to do it.

i had repair surgery on 01/20. So just shy of a month from my LTKR I'm wheeled in for another surgery. The initial recovery from this was much more painful than the knee. I woke up at about a 7 in pain. It took several hours for various pain meds to kick in and reduce it. And my left leg was in a cast from my high thigh all the way to my foot.

The first night in the center was awful. The cast hurt like hell. But by morning I was a little better. I went home that afternoon and we had a hospital bed delivered because I was very sure I would need the ability to elevate and lifting the cast was very hard.

During the 6 weeks I went through 3 different casts due to discomfort and in one case when they needed to remove staples. I finally got out of the cast on March 3rd. What a relief! But this started a whole new period of trying to recondition my leg skin back to some sense of normal. My leg came out a scaly flakey mess. But I was put right into a locked straight leg brace.

Showering with the cast on was an ordeal in hell with plastic bags and tape. With the cast off now I could shower a little easier. Still I had to remove the brace and sit to remove some chance of falling in the shower.

Just this Wednesday, April 6th my doc told me to ditch the brace. I was at 69 degrees of motion, a far cry from my prior 110 but I was feeling strong. It was a day of celebration and he told me I was ok to take some gentle golf swings.

So I made plans to meet some friend this Saturday (tomorrow) at the driving range for the first swing attempts. But today, Friday, I took a fall at work due to not seeing a 5 inch step down and while I don't think I did any serious damage, I certainly bent my leg MUCH FURTHER than I've been able to even in PT. That hurt like hell.

As I sit here writing this my left knee is about the size of one of those big fat softballs. I can still contract and extend but my quad muscle is very sore.

So my confidence is well shaken and for the first time in a very long time I'm hoping for a few weeks of snow so I don't even think about golf yet.

For me, my LTKR has been a series of small nightmares. The journey is about 3 and 1/2 months and I have one hell of a long way to go. If I can play golf this year, I've resigned myself to old man swings where the ball goes 75 to a 100 yards. Ah who the hell am I kidding... I am an old man.. Now I have the swing to match maybe.

So I hope the best for you in getting back to golf. But if you take one piece of advice from me... it is this: your knee has undergone A LOT of trauma. This trauma can set you up for more injuries if you push too hard. Case in point my pateller tendon. Before LTKR I could have handled that table fall a hundred times a day. But with a LTKR it took just once to ruin my world.

So go slow. Walk slow, watch where you are going, don't be an idiot like me and treat your TKR like it is the most important thing in the world. Go at the speed you feel comfortable with. Hopefully this leads you to golf this year.

in my case, after my fall today, I will be happy to play golf in 2023. But we will see.

Best of luck.

 

[lauderdalereb]

I’ll be 12 weeks out on 5/10/22 and have given up on idea of golf for next several weeks. Still struggling to get straight and stay straight. Leave PTx straight but wake up with it couple degrees flexed. Pain in medial aspect of joint, tib fem articulation area, just won’t go away. Doing everything I think I’m suppose to do. Saw surgeon last week and got thumbs up, just need to get straight. It’s been much slower and painful than I thought for recovery.

 

[Jaycey]

@lauderdalereb 12 weeks is still early days in a process that can take one year or longer. Just be patient a bit longer - you will get there. That knee just needs time.

 

[Odieodell]

I’m a golfer too and I’m at about 5.5 weeks out from my LTKR. It’s very clear by posts in this forum, we all heal at different speeds. My pain levels and swelling dropped quickly around the 3 week mark. I started chipping and putting around week 4 and have continued adding in clubs from about a 100 yards out. Today, I decided to try and play the last par 5 hole and parred it! I will say, I do not wear a regular golf shoe as I want my left foot to be able to move and not cause a severe twist to my knee. I have never hurt my knee while doing this for 18 holes with my husband. I’m being cautious to not overdue it, but I will say I am tired when we are done. I will definitely have to build up my stamina to actually play 9 holes. My range of motion is still a work in progress and believe this daily activity is actually good for my knee.

 

[Jockette]

Still struggling to get straight and stay straight. Leave PTx straight but wake up with it couple degrees flexed.

Straightening can take a while, but it will come. A couple of degrees from 0 is not a worry unless we let it be. It’s close and will continue to improve as you continue to heal.

 

[CricketHip]

Pain in medial aspect of joint, tib fem articulation area, just won’t go away.

I think that is the most common area of pain after a TKR, barely beating out the dreaded tight ITB.

You are far enough along that I wonder if you have considered a gentle, with no more than light to moderate pressure applied, massage? You would be amazed at how many other body parts were impacted, especially with your rapid return to work. Easing the legs and lower back would be so therapeutic.
Just a thought.

 

[DIYSteve]

I had TKR (left knee, w/patella button) on July 10, 2018. I walked 18 holes of golf 15 weeks post-surgery and walked 36 holes 20 months post-surgery. Note that those rounds were on a relatively flat course. After 5 months, walking 36 holes of golf a couple times a week became a key part of my recovery, bridging me to the ski season. FWIW, I skied 100 days the following ski season, a mix of touring, lift-served and XC.

I had hip replacement surgery 27 days ago. I'm up to a 1-3/4 mile flat walk and plan to start chipping golf balls in my front yard this week. I will not attempt to take a full swing until after 9 weeks, when my cementless prostheses should be fully stitched into my bones. I will be happy if my return to golf is similar to what I experienced after TKR surgery.

Best of luck to you!

 

[tjames2000]

Nice work Steve, golf was always my endgame after my TKR,s with work and rest in the right quantities I made the course a little over 3 months on both occasions, and felt comfortable. It's good to have something to aim for.