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TKR ironclm's recovery

Hi. Thought about you while I was doing drills in the pool. My first swim class was Tuesday and I loved it. My kick is strong. No hesitation. Must be all the other stuff--PT, stationary bike, cross-country skiing, and gym workouts--paying off. Can't wait until next week to do it again.

Great reports, both here and on the cycling club thread!
 
Well, I think I'm going to have to move somewhere where it's hot all the time because my knee does not like cold weather!

It's not that it hurts but, it feels really tight like someone dropped a belt around it and is yanking on it and it also feel like a concrete stump. I hate cold weather generally (and I define anything cold as under 75°). So I have some thinking to do about where I want to live, at least from about December to March.


TKR 08/26/15

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Yes - just past 9 months for me to get there. I thought I'd never get there.


TKR 08/26/15

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Awesome! I can't imagine riding my bike again in these early days of my recovery. Enjoy your rides for those of us patiently awaiting our turns to ride again!
 
I am officially sprung from PT - 295 days (or 9 months and 21 days) since the date of surgery. We've been working hard to get full strength back in my hips/quad so I can race my bike and get to where walking downstairs is pain free. Still not there on the stairs, but I'm feeling good on the bike and have raced a couple of times. Now to ramp up the mileage and also do some ice skating to get ready for hockey season (as a fan, not a player!)

Jonathan, my PT, and I have been working together for a lot of the past two years (prior to surgery to try an put surgery off as long as possible, then post-surgery) and we've become pretty good friends. He and his wife are moving an hour and a half away, so we'll keep in touch via email and I walked in today to a bouquet of flowers.

Final PT numbers: new knee flexion = 130 degrees, old knee flexion = 134 degrees.

QOTD: "You have far exceeded my goals for you when we started this. Excellent job!"

Now, to keep working on strength and regain some racing fitness!
 
jmdearras said:
Wow! you have me beat on PT by 9 months! Why so long?
Click to expand...

Because I want to get back to high level athletic fitness and race my bike. If I were just going to putter around in the yard and walk the dog, I'd have been done ages ago. But my goal is to race next year at Masters Nationals. The first question to my surgeon at my first appointment was, "I want to race my bike afterwards, will this be a problem?" He said not a problem. And I have a friend in California who has been World Champion on the bike after his TKR at age 75.
 
Well, I admire your drive. I am 145/0 and well beyond the putter around the yard and walk the dog stage, but no where near bike racing!
 
:wowspring:You certainly have worked very hard to get you to the level you want to be. It's great that you were able to work with PT for that long and they were a good help to you. I had limited visits controlled by insurance and my therapist didn't hurt me nor did he do that much for me either.
 
I also had a long relationship with my PT-- I needed to regain my fitness for skiing and biking. No racing though. My Pt was an important part of my recovery team.
 
Thanks all. And in my former life I worked as an athletic trainer so I have a bit of knowledge going in to all of this.

Here's a couple of pictures. The first one is last week. The second one is what I want to get back to.
[Bonesmart.org] ironclm's recovery

[Bonesmart.org] ironclm's recovery



TKR 08/26/15

Sent from my iPhone using BoneSmart Forum
 
ironclm said:
I am officially sprung from PT - 295 days (or 9 months and 21 days) since the date of surgery. We've been working hard to get full strength back in my hips/quad so I can race my bike and get to where walking downstairs is pain free. Still not there on the stairs,
Click to expand...
We all have our own ways back to health and fitness, and this is an awesome one. It is not, however, always necessary to go this way, which I point out with no disrespect or criticism of any kind to ironclm but to show our other readers that her level of dedication is not always needed.

My case, for instance, is rather to the other extreme. I did no PT at all. My ROM now is roughly 130/0, although I don't actually measure it. I was back riding a bit at 3 months, 'racing' at 6 months. I wasn't racing well and recorded 27.45 and 28.17 for 10 mile individual time trials, close to my lifetime's worst but at least doing it.

My knees now do not hurt and never limit my riding. The joke now is that before surgery my knees hurt, afterwards they are fine but everything else hurts instead.

Ironclm, I don't mean to hijack your thread but I do think it's worth mentioning for our other readers.
 
Like skigirl said, PT is just one part of the recovery team. Coming from an athletic background PT has always been important, as is chiropractic, massage, coaches and training partners.

And strengthening was just a very small part of what we did. A lot of manual therapy every session.

Plus, being on the younger and more active side of a typical TKR patient, it's pushed my surgeon and my PT to rethink what might be possible.


TKR 08/26/15

Sent from my iPhone using BoneSmart Forum
 
Amazing!! I found your thread initially on the cycle club page and have been following ever since. I'm waiting with some frustration to get back on my bike. So far I can only do 10 minutes on the trainer with no resistance 6 weeks after Bilateral so I'm watching you with envy.
I don't race, only road cycle for fun and to stay in shape over the summer so that I can race Masters Alpine in the winter but you are definitely an inspiration!


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