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TKR Jojo9610's recovery thread

I start my outpatient PT tomorrow morning. I'm so tempted to reschedule. I think I overdid it today. My husband and I left the house at 9 and didn't get back until 5:30. I had 4 appointments (all for pre-op). It seems we drove all over town. I just wanted to get them all done in one day. I think if I'm sore in the morning I will postpone my PT.
 
Wow that certainly was a long day for you. It might be a good idea to cancel if you're still sore. You might be surprised though with this recovery you might feel fine. It just keeps us guessing.
 
Don't feel badly about cancelling if you're sore/swollen. That's a lot of time with the leg down.
 
Today was my first day of outpatient PT. I thought I was really going to like this place. The PT that did my assessment was very nice. She said they didn't believe in no pain no gain. They just wanted you to push yourself as far as you thought you could go. I was still measured at 83, same as last week. As soon as we finished the assessment we went out into the main area and she was massaging my knee. The head of the dept came up and first thing out of his mouth was "you need to work harder on your ROM. You only have a limited amount of time before you will have to have an MUA". I just told him he wasn't my surgeon and that it wasn't his call whether or not I had an MUA. He just turned and walked away. I thought I was doing ok at 83 at 4 weeks.
 
Good on you to speak up, he sounds like he is a bully. I think you are doing really well with your ROM at 4 weeks I was only at 70 at that stage. It is hard if you knee is still swollen. How is your extension? I was told that you get extension before flexion. Keep up the exercises & only push as far as you can.
 
@suemegane my extension is about 4.

My incision was closed up with glue and has one strip of tape covering it. The OS said to just snip off the tape as it comes up. I have no idea how much or if the incision has healed. During PT this morning she was massaging my knee (both sides of the incision) but she had cocoa butter all over the tape. I asked her to wipe it off worrying about it being on the tape over the incision. She said I shouldn't worry about it but should I?
 
Your extension is very good. I am not sure about the cocoa butter. I had staples & didn't put anything near it until it had healed, then I used bio oil & I have a really neat scar.
 
As long as your incision is totally healed you should be ok. Are there any open places? My pt was very careful about starting to massage with Palmer's, but it was wonderful :yes:.
 
I can't tell if it's totally healed, it's been covered with surgical tape for the past 4 weeks. I can't see the incision. The OS said as the tape starts to come off just to clip it off. None of it has come off yet.
 
I wouldn't put anything else on it unto you can see the incision. But I tend to err on the side of caution where incisions are concerned.
 
What an idiot so glad you stood up to the pt guy. I am coming up to 6 weeks and my extension is 0 and flex ion is up to 107. Not bad considering I started home pt 2 weeks after surgery due to a mix up.
Take care and Merry Christmas.
. :santa sleigh:
 
I am 5 weeks out today. I have to say everything has been good, pain is very little, I'm off of all pain meds, swelling is minimal, I finally got full rotation on the bike at PT today. My only worry is that my flexion is not very good. I'm at 90 and 3. I just can't seem to get past 90. Is it still to early for me to be worrying?
 
Has PT put you on a bike? The bike helped me get past 90.
 
:wow: That is great! The more I biked the better my ROM was. After pt was over I got a recumbent bike of my own to keep biking because it really helped to loosen up my knee. It'll come.
 
jojo9610 said:
I am 5 weeks out today. I have to say everything has been good, pain is very little, I'm off of all pain meds, swelling is minimal, I finally got full rotation on the bike at PT today. My only worry is that my flexion is not very good. I'm at 90 and 3. I just can't seem to get past 90. Is it still to early for me to be worrying?
Click to expand...
That's better than I was after my first TKR and I progressed on my own. It just took a long time!
 
Please don't worry about your ROM. You're still very early in this recovery process and you're doing just fine. There still is likely swelling inside your knee. You can't always see it, but it can be there for quite some time. The important thing is to take things nice and slow. If you're not still icing your knee, I suggest you do as much as feels comfortable. It's a great way to help with pain and swelling.
 
You are doing just fine I am a week ahead of you and I was also around 5 weeks when I got full rotations on the bike and my flex ion just is getting better and better I also was around 95 at 5 weeks. So don't worry it will get better, my measurement today 0 extension and 112 flexion.
 
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