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TKR kmak's TKR recovery thread

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Agreed @Polkadot - I probably could have waited until later in the summer though I expect I might have had to curtail some summer activities due to pain in lefty. I am not tall, and hopefully not too crazy -- I was feeling quite good yesterday and was curious - but no more! Today I rode 10 miles in spin class - my previous high was 8, then measured myself on the leg press - still around 110 for my best flexion- then had to ice and elevate!. I don't seem to be content with a feeling good knee for very long before I push the limits. My DW just shakes her head :no-fin:
 
"Houston we have a quad" -- that was the theme at PT today as I was able to engage it at the appropriate time without using hips and calves. No need for the e-stim to remind me what it is supposed to be doing. No improvements in the past two weeks in the eyeballing for flexion and extension. I am making progress on some of the functional movements and balancing. I was informed that I have met my out of pocket max so no more co-pays for my few remaining visits. :yes!: For a brief moment I thought about doing the "two for one" deal that many on here have done, but fortunately sanity returned and I am not going to try to squeeze in number two this year. My PT agreed that, for me, waiting is the better option. She also suggested that giving myself an MW/OA was not a good idea when I expressed a teensy bit of frustration at no improvement and told a few stories of folks who had "accidentally and painfully" increased their ROM. The knee actually feels great most of the time, I was less swollen this morning, and while the stiffness continues, I think I'm doing ok.
 
@kmak81230, never, in my wildest dreams, would I attempt 2 stairs at a time; brava,...I think?

Huzzah on the quad action sans e-stim! You rocked that baby all by yourself, as it should be; woot!:yahoo:

May I just join your PT in stating that an MW/OA is definitely not a good idea. It isn't. I am still recuperating from mine. I am now up to 10 measly minutes on the exercycle, but want my 15 minutes back and then more.....always more. It still feels quite odd, in a different way than I had been experiencing. It is not yet a better version knee, other than having a bit more flexion. Strangely enough, despite more flexion, (10 degrees) it feels stiffer and tighter. Everything is more miserable. Beyond that, I can't explain, but I can say, don't do it.:no-fin:

Please tell me your Junior High gym students did not have to wear the awful blue bloomer gymsuits? Huge kudos to you for not insisting on the dreaded gym showers, lol.
 
Agreed - no MW/OA for me if I can help it @Pheebs52. I'm glad you didn't suffer more serious consequences and I expect you'll get back up to 15 minutes real soon. Perhaps if the weather is nice! We did require gym suits unfortunately - polyester one piecers - solid navy shorts with a horizontal striped top. Just the pits. But implemented prior to me . . . to save money moms would buy a huge size - so drowning in them in 6th grade and for some, much too snug by 8th grade. One of my more memorable students was a "bleacher sitter" - we had long talks about the benefits and hideousness of PE - she never budged, content to get the no credit, and I didn't push.
 
Hahaha, I'll bet the "Bleacher-Sitter," is now an active person! Once I entered a prep/ high school that did NOT have a gym requirement, I began to become much more active on my own; cycling, swimming and walking primarily. Funny how that works.:-) In college, I fell in love with skiing. Never would I have predicted that back in my Bleacher Days, lol.
 
I hafta wonder what the heck is wrong with just wearing some basic shorts and a favorite T-Shirt for gym? I know most kids would be much happier, but hey, that makes sense, so of course, it isn't the requirement, lol.
 
kmak83120 ~ just wondering which exercise you were doing in which you were able to engage your quad at the appropriate time without using your hips or calves? when is the appropriate time in this case?
 
Hi @liam2015 I was using my hip and calves to "help" when doing the exercise on my back to try and push my leg flat on the table, and my quad was not working much. So I have been working on just activating my quad when I try to push my leg flat . . of course I cannot push my leg flat yet so I expect I was trying with all my muscles and might to do so. I can still fit a hand underneath . . . it get closer after some assistance at PT but clearly this is going to be a longer project. So today my PT, while I was on my back on the table, asked me to try and push my leg flat to the table. Then she said - you're using your hips, try to just use your quad, and I was able to do so and so we practiced it a bit so that I would remember to focus on that muscle group.
 
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Agreed about the shorts and T-shirts for PE class. It's about getting kids to like physical activity for a lifetime, not dreading or hating it . . .
 
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Exactly Kathleen and hey, the boys never had to run around in silly blue-bloomer outfits! That always rotted my socks, gym and otherwise.
 
Scary thoughts, @kmak81230! Or is it maybe great thinkers...? I can't believe I'm admitting this, but I actually had a teensy thought yesterday at some point whether one could just "accidentally on purpose" do the MW/OA thing. It flitted through my mind again today while I was doing my 10 minutes on the exercise bike at PT. I was wondering how on earth @Pheebs52 did that, and then--hmmm...maybe it would be worth it!? I swear, this thought was in my brain no more than a nano-second or three.

Desperate times, I believe. I had increased pain and discomfort, and what felt like decreased ROM yesterday and today. Geez Louise, will this dratted ROM ever get better?!? Not that I'm seriously complaining, mind you. I'd just like to know that my waiting game will pay off. Anyone with a crystal ball or some tea leaves?
 
Also, I can't believe that you were once one of those dreaded gym teachers. At least it sounds as though you were waaaayyy more understanding than any I had!
 
Well....not to be a *party-pooper* but...we're in "The Slow-Benders," for a reason. Of course, I've no idea what that reason might be.....bad karma? Natural born swellers? Lousy metabolism? What I do know is it certainly isn't our fault....well, unless we really CAN attribute this to bad karma. :wink:

I suspect we are the collective reason why all the literature states this is a 12 month recovery process. Does that ring any bells? No? Anyone? Let's see....we're all about 1/3 of the way *there* if you believe in a *there* and I'll just go on record to say I do. I'm a believer, just like the Monkee's song, lol. In the big scheme of things up there in OZ, 4 months is just the blink of an eye. Let's whine a bit louder when we still feel this way at...I dunno...9 months? Yes, that sounds good, hah!

As for contemplating your own MW/OA, I'll just say it again.....you absolutely wouldn't like it. There's a reason that surgeons use anesthesia. Honestly, it really didn't have a saving grace.
 
All of my PE Teachers were elderly, grouchy, borderline demented dictators. Gym was the antithesis of fun. It was the most *un-fun* class I had and not because I was a child slug; I wasn't. It had a strong relationship to Marine Corps basic training, but we were draftees, and we didn't even get a cool uniform at the end; pffft!
 
Great news that quad has resumed it's function! I'd say that deserves a big Kneerah!! :yes!::yay::spin: I understand your thought about the MW/OA, but from a different perspective. Spence has contemplated one to get the last bit of flexion as he wants to be able to bend enough that I can kneel on my heels! :yikes: Of course a little set back tonight definitely put an end to those plans.:tantrum:
 
Natural Born Swellers ! I love it @Polkadot - best T-shirt slogan of the month! You are Super Supremo in our minds @Pheebs52. We're sticking with you since you're on the fast track. And of course I was not serious about the MW/OA. I would not wish that on any of us. I will try to stay positive until our 9 month whine and dine party.
 
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