@Tentcamper…..I am sorry you feel that we didn’t offer the right guidance for you in the early months of your recovery. I just finished reviewing your entire recovery thread and it actually seemed that our members and staff gave you very good information and support in your journey up until you stopped posting in October.
If the post about your original ROM on your knee (9 degrees) is correct, it means your extreme swelling was keeping you from bending your knee at all as you began recovery. This is very different from what we typically see here on BoneSmart. Most patients begin recovery with at least a ROM measurement in the 40’s and go from there. So, it did seem from the beginning that you might have more challenges than most of our members.
The photos you posted showed what appeared to be excessive swelling in both your knees. You didn’t mention any problems with your left knee, but the enlarged knee area there seems to indicate something was causing you to retain fluid there as well as in your post-op knee. To me, that plus your description of how your body reacts to many things did seem to point to a recovery that might be slower than the average. This is not necessarily a bad thing….just something a person must keep in mind. You did a great job with that with the help and support of our members and staff. You were making steady progress, even though it was slower than you might have liked or expected. I frankly didn’t see anything wrong with your progress and it seemed the things you were trying were helping you improve your range of motion.
I think you did a good job of trying different and safe alternatives to help with your swelling. You evaluated how they worked, kept the ones that worked and ditched those (including lots of icing) that didn‘t appear to be helping. This is what we consider to be a person’s most valuable tool in recovery….listening to their body and responding accordingly. You also applied this to the various therapists and medical personnel you were working with. You were an advocate for yourself and that is what we always hope our BoneSmarties will be.
You might be interested to know that a couple of our surgeon consultants have modified their viewpoint of icing for swelling. Like you, they have discovered that, although it can do wonders for pain, in some patients it does not do much to help with swelling. Instead, they are moving to using NSAIDs for a short period (which I noted you cannot take) to help reduce the inflammation that can cause swelling. There also is a wearable electronic device called the geko that is relatively new in the US that is just about as close to magic as you can get to reduce swelling virtually overnight and help with this problem post-op. The treatment is a 10-day course of wearing the device and it has had great success in our surgeons’ patients. It might have helped you and, if you’re still experiencing a lot of inflammation and swelling, you could consider giving it a try. It has to be obtained from a doctor with a prescription, but that prescription can be from a GP as well as a surgeon. It has received Medicare approval and code numbers for payment and, if you’re interested in trying it, I can possibly help get you to someone who could assist with it.
You were going along pretty well with gradual increases in your ROM until your last report in October of 72 degrees. And now you’re at 83 at 7 months out. Given the medical history you’ve posted here, I think this is good and consistent progress. To me it indicates you will continue to improve, even though it still may not go as fast as you would like.
You’ve had a lot of things going on with your body and this recovery. There are many factors that impact inflammation and swelling in someone and I do not necessarily agree that being more “aggressive” earlier in your recovery would have helped things go any faster. Your body was and is in charge of your recovery. During those first few months, you had very little ROM at all. It was important that you did lots of gentle bending and stretching during those early days to challenge your knee. But had someone taken the approach to force bending your knee either in therapy or through an MUA, I suspect you would not be any further along today than you are now.
You have a great story to tell other BoneSmarties and I genuinely hope that you continue to post and update how you’re progressing. Your situation is one that I don’t recall us ever seeing before - someone who began recovery with almost no bend at all and had other issues that impacted the speed of their recovery. The staff has discussed your recent comments and I agree we must be sure we’re stressing that everyone needs to be stretching and bending their knee on a regular basis from day one. The critical thing with this activity, though, is that it should only be done to the point of mild discomfort and not cross into significant pain. Also, based on your comments, in our last staff meeting we readdressed the use of ice to combat pain or swelling. It’s always an important topic for any of our members.
United States
Just remember there will probably be more dips and bumps here and there along the way, so don’t be discouraged. But it sounds like you’re through the worst and well on your way. Yay!! So happy for you!
