TKR I went through with the surgery!

[icep707]

I was wondering what happened to you, its great that you went through with your surgery. It is difficult but doable. Follow the mantras to the T. Ill be on the otherside next Monday. Best of luck to you. You are in my prayers .

 

[ksmarvin]

Finally...finally...I feel like I'm able to try and progress! The drainage has been stopped for about a week now. The home therapist wanted to take it easy on me, so once again all I was doing was knee presses, ankle pumps, and butt squeezes. This week we've started more walking and some new exercises. Today she'll check to see what my ROM is. I'm curious to see what it will be. I'm hoping it's good since I'm feeling pretty upbeat right now after feeling pretty discouraged for a while.

 

[NuNe4Me]

Dont worry about your ROM right now. Right now, you just need time to heal. Those PTs are obsessive about ROM. There is plenty of time to work on your ROM later.

For more information about ROM, read some of the Articles in the BoneSmarties' Library (at the top of the website, in the grey bar).

 

[ksmarvin]

I haven't posted in a very long time so I don't know if anyone will see this, but I thought I'd try anyway. Here's my question regarding PT... How many times a day do you recommend that the PT exercises be done per day? My therapist tells me 3 times a day. I do the exercises twice (in addition to walking around the house, fetching things, and taking care of my pets). It seems that the days I do more PT are followed by a day of pain and that results in less activity on my part. I should add that I'm 10 weeks out at this point.

 

[Lovestoread]

I never did mine more than twice a day….sometimes only once, but usually twice. My therapist said twice was sufficient.

 

[ksmarvin]

Oh that's good to know. Have you been happy with the results?

 

[icep707]

You want to keep that knee bending as often as possible. I lay around the house alot when I aint doing anything. I am 6 weeks out. Im very active but my therapist told me today , while im laying around to keep my knee bending, heels slides, Quad tightener , stairs anything is better than just laying there. Keep that knee bending !!!

 

[Jamie]

I can tell you some days I did NO exercises other than gentle bends and stretches and walking about the house. If you are hurting after the exercises, then it's too much for right now. Please don't allow yourself to do so much that you induce pain (swelling) in your knee. It is conter-productive for your recovery! Just smile sweetly and tell the therapist what they want to hear. Your body is in charge here.

 

[skigirl]

I am with Jamie---I never did any exercises except at pt!! Otherwise, I did walk around alot and then at 8 weeks, I began to use a pool which felt great. I would not worry about those exercises. My rom is very good, so don't worry too much.

 

[ksmarvin]

Thanks for the reassurance, everyone! The physical terrorist keeps telling me that I have to push myself. I've found though, that as soon as I do, the next day is awful and I can barely do a thing. The past few days I've been doing the exercises once a day and have been able to use just the cane instead of the walker. I also feel much better! Tomorrow my ROM gets measured. I'm interested in seeing the results when I'm doing things MY way.

 

[ksmarvin]

What's wrong with these physical terrorists? So she came out today to measure my ROM and insisted that I slide my leg back as far as possible as she measured. As a result, I'm in pain now. I've been walking so much better up until now and I'm afraid that tomorrow I'll have a set back due to this measuring procedure. I don't understand what sense it makes. Who sits with their leg back so far as to cause pain? How is that an accurate measure? I'm ready to chuck their therapy and do it on my own!

 

[ksmarvin]

Hmmm...didn't have to wait until tomorrow to see what the results would be from this morning's escapades with the therapist. 40 minutes since my last post and I'm sitting here icing my knee...in a lot of pain grrr

 

[skigirl]

I suggest you tell your therapist exactly what happened and that you do not want the problem to continue. If she does anything else to cause you pain--ditch her. Get another therapist at the same clinic or just go to a different clinic. Remember, YOu are the paying customer---she does not get to make any decisions.

 

[Jamie]

Kelly is right. You must take a firm stand with her or be done with her. This is YOUR recovery and YOUR dime paying her. You are in charge of your treatment. Your common sense trumps her bumbling approach every day! Trust yourself with this. When therapy feels wrong and hurts, it usually is wrong!!!

 

[ksmarvin]

Here I am back with a couple of questions: Has anyone experienced jolting pain...like a muscle spasm with a very sharp pain? Seems like I'm getting these as I'm moving around more and have less pain meds available to me. Any ideas on how to cope with this? Also. I haven't had a physical therapist in my recovery process for 3 weeks now. I'm just doing the exercises that they gave me while I had the physical therapist come to my home. It just seems like there can't be much more that they can show me. Think I'll be ok from here out just doing the bending exercises on my own? I feel like I should, but also feel like I should have some sense of the measurement of my ROM.


Sent from my iPad using BoneSmart®

 

[skigirl]

there is an app on your phone to measure your rom. Let's see if I can give you some resources from the library:

Exercises for TKRs: do-it-yourself exercises from basic to advanced
Activity progression for TKRs

https://www.ockendon.net/KneeGoniAnimation.mov here is a video explaining the app for your phone and how to measure with it.

Helpful Apps for BoneSmarties

The pain you are experiencing is probably nerve pain as those nerve endings find the pathways again. Some folks take Lyrica for nerve pain--you could ask your doc if it is bothering you.

 

[waitingtogarden]

Sorry you're suffering these setbacks. I had my share too. The nice part was my knee caught up nicely without overworking it. The key is patience. Everyday a a day closer to getting the job done....recovery flowers!

 

[ksmarvin]

Thank you both for your replies. I will check out the apps that you mentioned, skigirl. I'll also check with my doctor about the lyrica.
Yes, having patience is very difficult. I'm 3 months out and feel like I should have less pain than I do. I suppose the extra activity I've been doing is the cause of the aggravation.


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[kneeper]

Yes, it could be the combination of less pain meds and more activity.

 

[ksmarvin]

Started back to work this week with 4 hour shifts. Geesh! It's difficult and I'm only part time. By the third hour I'm just counting the minutes until I can get home to my recliner and elevate my leg.


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