TKR Kevin's knee journey - ups and downs
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I would say this is a giant gift! Cutting out that middle-of-the-night icing is a huge improvement in the healing journey.
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DEL2024Dec-40
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I will try the Tens. I’m at 3 1/2 weeks and it feels like I have a tournaquet wrapped around the lower part of the knee, where the knee bends. I also get big cracks in my knee when moving it side to side. I hope it is breaking up scar tissue, it’s not just normal pops. If I can find something to release the pressure in the lower knee.
Just curious if anyone has experienced this.
Thank you
Just curious if anyone has experienced this.
Thank you
I pray your day is a blessed one with little or no pain!kevinR
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It has been 7 weeks since my left total knee. A lot has changed in the last week!
1) Pain has settled in at about a 1-2 using ibuprofin and advil. Totally manageable.
2) I am taking 1 Tramadol at night. Still wake up at 3 am, but I take 2 advil and ibuprofin, do some flexes, some ankle flexes and muscle tightening and I fall back asleep.
3) I have added just a bit of tension to biking.
4) I have gone back to 1 pound of weight on my knee during exercises in case that causes pain.
5) I can go up stairs using alternating steps. As long as there is no swelling, I can go downstairs the same way.
6) I still get periods of swelling, using ice as needed.
Now the bad.
My knee clonk and crunches. Xrays are great. both doctor and PT says this happens. However, when it clonks it does not hurt but makes it hard to walk for long. My walking progress is at a standstill because it is "uncomfortable". It does not quite hurt, but I can feel it, kind of like a big knuckle crack or the crunch of a torn meniscus. Does anyone have any ideas on how to control this? I have a knee brace on which helps a bit, but not much.
1) Pain has settled in at about a 1-2 using ibuprofin and advil. Totally manageable.
2) I am taking 1 Tramadol at night. Still wake up at 3 am, but I take 2 advil and ibuprofin, do some flexes, some ankle flexes and muscle tightening and I fall back asleep.
3) I have added just a bit of tension to biking.
4) I have gone back to 1 pound of weight on my knee during exercises in case that causes pain.
5) I can go up stairs using alternating steps. As long as there is no swelling, I can go downstairs the same way.
6) I still get periods of swelling, using ice as needed.
Now the bad.
My knee clonk and crunches. Xrays are great. both doctor and PT says this happens. However, when it clonks it does not hurt but makes it hard to walk for long. My walking progress is at a standstill because it is "uncomfortable". It does not quite hurt, but I can feel it, kind of like a big knuckle crack or the crunch of a torn meniscus. Does anyone have any ideas on how to control this? I have a knee brace on which helps a bit, but not much.
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Here is an article from our Library that you may, or may not have read.
Clicking/clunking knee joint after surgery
It does seem your doing well and making decent progress for 7 weeks post op. It I still pretty early in the entire scheme of things with lots of time remaining to enjoy improvements, so hang in there.
We have edited your title as requested.
The New Year should be a good one for you, Kevin. Best Wishes!
@kevinR
Clicking/clunking knee joint after surgery
It does seem your doing well and making decent progress for 7 weeks post op. It I still pretty early in the entire scheme of things with lots of time remaining to enjoy improvements, so hang in there.
We have edited your title as requested.
The New Year should be a good one for you, Kevin. Best Wishes!
@kevinR
Please be careful taking these two things at the same time. These two are same thing, NSAIDS, which can be very dangerous for the heart and stomach. Try taking a Tylenol instead of one of these.
Oh, thank goodness! But, your saying that may keep someone else from doubling up on the NSAID, so good can definitely come from it!
kevinR
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My Plan was to have my left knee done on November 8th - done. Then we were taking a beach vacation in mid January to relax and show off my scar, followed by getting my right knee done on Feb 8.
My right knee is actually worse than the left, but the left hurt more. Currently bc I have not used it my right knee only hurts a little.
Here is what I am facing. The last 2 months have been draining. I had way more pain than I expected, could not get good pain control because I don't respond well to opiates, and I have been bored out of my mind. At 2 months pain is under control, recovery is good but I have clonks in my knee. I can still only walk about 5 blocks. TBH this has been way worse than I ever expected.
The thought of doing this again in a month frankly is a bit daunting. I am considering getting an offset brace and another round of steroid shots on my right knee. However, if it does not work, it means I will have my knee done in the spring or summer and will lose the best time of the year. What have other people done?
My right knee is actually worse than the left, but the left hurt more. Currently bc I have not used it my right knee only hurts a little.
Here is what I am facing. The last 2 months have been draining. I had way more pain than I expected, could not get good pain control because I don't respond well to opiates, and I have been bored out of my mind. At 2 months pain is under control, recovery is good but I have clonks in my knee. I can still only walk about 5 blocks. TBH this has been way worse than I ever expected.
The thought of doing this again in a month frankly is a bit daunting. I am considering getting an offset brace and another round of steroid shots on my right knee. However, if it does not work, it means I will have my knee done in the spring or summer and will lose the best time of the year. What have other people done?
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I had a four month interval and it was great... One recovery moved into the other.
I made sure, starting from Day 1 with the first TKA to cultivate a positive attitude of surrender to making the needs of the new knee a priority and just accepting it as a temporary reality.
I made sure, starting from Day 1 with the first TKA to cultivate a positive attitude of surrender to making the needs of the new knee a priority and just accepting it as a temporary reality.
I ended up taking a 2+-year break between my surgeries -- although that wasn't what I had initially planned.
Like you, when I had the initial TKR, we focused on the knee that had more pain, even though both knees were in bad shape. The plan was to do the other knee in 4-6 months.
However, as I recovered from my right TKR and started to bear more body weight on the right side, my left knee became far less painful. I was walking well enough to go hiking in Norway at 10 months post-op. Leftie held up pretty well for 2 years, then told me "enough" and I had my second TKR earlier this month.
(Side note: Although I'm only 15 days in, I'm finding this recovery a bit easier than the first one -- probably because I was better prepared and knew what to expect.)
I don't think there is a "right" answer here. We are all different and you need to do what feels right for you.
Kevin, I’m going to be very honest with you about your dilemma.
It sounds to me as if you may have gone into joint replacement surgery with some unrealistic expectations. Sadly, many surgeons don’t do a good job conveying potential recovery challenges and that may be part of the problem. But the fact is that your body is in charge of how you recover. You cannot plan or schedule things and expect for the plan to execute as you want during at least the first 6 months. There are too many variables. Each surgery and knee is its own situation. Your other knee recovery may be easier or more difficult than this one. The good news is that, to some degree, you will know what you may expect and that many times can make the second recovery seem a bit easier.
The clunking you are experiencing is normal and should go away with some time. If you read the article that was linked above to you, you’ll see the details about why this occurs. It can take way more time than people realize for your soft tissues to adjust to the new metal in your body. As long as there is no pain or swelling associated with the sounds coming from your knee, it likely is not anything to worry about. However, trying to push yourself to recover with strength-building exercises before your body is ready can slow your healing. You say you’re doing exercises with weights. It may be too soon for that. You also mention you can only walk about 5 blocks. What happens then? Again, that’s likely your body telling you that you’re pushing too hard.
I think mendogal’s words are right on target about your current recovery….consider giving your body a bit more grace and time as you “submit” to the idea that you are not in charge of your recovery. Your main responsibility is to respond properly when your body is signaling you that it wants to go a little more slowly. Your body only has so much energy to give. It needs to be putting that energy toward healing and not to other activities. Of course, you need to exercise and stretch your new knee to ensure that you get the best range of motion possible, but when you tire or have pain, that’s the signal to not try to push through those feelings, let your body rest a day or so, and then start again.
If your other knee is bad and needs to be replaced, then delaying it doesn’t seem to be a wise choice. That knee will only get worse with time. The shots don’t heal anything and if you do that and try to delay your surgery just to be able to enjoy spring and summer, you have no guarantee you’ll be pain free. You’ll just be months later in your complete healing process that will happen once you have both knees replaced. This is something that would be good to discuss with your surgeon before making any decisions about what to do next.
Be sure you are going through this with the long-term goals in the front of your mind. If your second knee is a problem, the sooner you get this surgery and recovery behind you, the sooner you’ll be able to start regaining your life again. But realize it may take a year or more for you to feel “normal” again. It won’t mean that you can’t do things you like to do, but you’ll just need to pay attention and see exactly what your body is ready for at any point in time. I don’t know how much travel is involved with your planned beach vacation in mid-January, but it was probably a bit unwise to assume you’d be ready for that. As I mentioned, most people don’t really feel up to the stress of a trip until at least 6 months out. It sounds to me that you would be better off to cancel the vacation and allow your body to rebuild itself during this vital time leading up to your February surgery.
It sounds to me as if you may have gone into joint replacement surgery with some unrealistic expectations. Sadly, many surgeons don’t do a good job conveying potential recovery challenges and that may be part of the problem. But the fact is that your body is in charge of how you recover. You cannot plan or schedule things and expect for the plan to execute as you want during at least the first 6 months. There are too many variables. Each surgery and knee is its own situation. Your other knee recovery may be easier or more difficult than this one. The good news is that, to some degree, you will know what you may expect and that many times can make the second recovery seem a bit easier.
The clunking you are experiencing is normal and should go away with some time. If you read the article that was linked above to you, you’ll see the details about why this occurs. It can take way more time than people realize for your soft tissues to adjust to the new metal in your body. As long as there is no pain or swelling associated with the sounds coming from your knee, it likely is not anything to worry about. However, trying to push yourself to recover with strength-building exercises before your body is ready can slow your healing. You say you’re doing exercises with weights. It may be too soon for that. You also mention you can only walk about 5 blocks. What happens then? Again, that’s likely your body telling you that you’re pushing too hard.
I think mendogal’s words are right on target about your current recovery….consider giving your body a bit more grace and time as you “submit” to the idea that you are not in charge of your recovery. Your main responsibility is to respond properly when your body is signaling you that it wants to go a little more slowly. Your body only has so much energy to give. It needs to be putting that energy toward healing and not to other activities. Of course, you need to exercise and stretch your new knee to ensure that you get the best range of motion possible, but when you tire or have pain, that’s the signal to not try to push through those feelings, let your body rest a day or so, and then start again.
If your other knee is bad and needs to be replaced, then delaying it doesn’t seem to be a wise choice. That knee will only get worse with time. The shots don’t heal anything and if you do that and try to delay your surgery just to be able to enjoy spring and summer, you have no guarantee you’ll be pain free. You’ll just be months later in your complete healing process that will happen once you have both knees replaced. This is something that would be good to discuss with your surgeon before making any decisions about what to do next.
Be sure you are going through this with the long-term goals in the front of your mind. If your second knee is a problem, the sooner you get this surgery and recovery behind you, the sooner you’ll be able to start regaining your life again. But realize it may take a year or more for you to feel “normal” again. It won’t mean that you can’t do things you like to do, but you’ll just need to pay attention and see exactly what your body is ready for at any point in time. I don’t know how much travel is involved with your planned beach vacation in mid-January, but it was probably a bit unwise to assume you’d be ready for that. As I mentioned, most people don’t really feel up to the stress of a trip until at least 6 months out. It sounds to me that you would be better off to cancel the vacation and allow your body to rebuild itself during this vital time leading up to your February surgery.
MSuki
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I was in a similar situation in that the xrays showed my right knee was worse but only my left knee had significant pain. Only in the last month before my left knee surgery did my right knee start having issues. I was taking the Visco shots which did almost nothing after the first time or two. I felt like I had to delay because of my Mom’s cancer. The doctors thought this time last year that she might only have a few months to live, but turned out to be wrong. Also I was doing a lot of contract (audit) work that had to be done in specific months. I felt like I couldn’t do the surgery and be unable to travel, so I just let my knee get worse and worse. As a result, my legs are both a lot weaker than they were for the first surgery. I wish I had done it sooner but that’s mostly because I was ready to do it and felt constrained by circumstances.
In my case I think I let my knees get bad enough that there was no question in my mind about whether I needed the surgery, going on without it was unbearable. Which I think gives me a more positive attitude towards recovery etc. Question for you is - are you certain you need the other knee replaced? And, will delaying give you an interlude of feeling good until you are ready to go through this again, or will it just give you more months of being limited and in pain as your other knee deteriorates? I don’t know how bad your remaining knee is but to me that might be the determining factor as to whether to wait or go forward.
In my case I think I let my knees get bad enough that there was no question in my mind about whether I needed the surgery, going on without it was unbearable. Which I think gives me a more positive attitude towards recovery etc. Question for you is - are you certain you need the other knee replaced? And, will delaying give you an interlude of feeling good until you are ready to go through this again, or will it just give you more months of being limited and in pain as your other knee deteriorates? I don’t know how bad your remaining knee is but to me that might be the determining factor as to whether to wait or go forward.
kevinR
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You are all wiser than I am. My biggest worry going into my replacement was pain. I was not worried about rehab since I am really good at keeping up on PT and any exercises I might need. I am in an older person walking group where we do 5 mile walks once a week. There are lots of knee replacement people including some who had issues. They all assured me that pain was not a problem. The other factor is all of the info on the net about things being normal after about 2 months. Now that I am post surgery, my doc and PT all assure me that this is all normal and I am actually in the "fast track" group for recovery. I obviously underestimated what it would be like. I think I will do a wait and see. I am going to try offload brace and shots and put things off for a few more months.
MSuki
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Maybe they took more opioids! I think it’s a good idea to wait a bit if you have doubts. It’s hard enough without going into it unsure if you need it yet. At least with mine I had no doubts about whether I could have waited longer, I was getting to where just going into Walgreens to pick up a prescription was a dreaded ordeal.
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