TKR Knee feeling strange

[renatelynne]

I don't want to scare you too much but when pt did that to me and I got a pop it was my patella tendon pulling off the bone. Make sure you see the doctor if you still have pain and/or can't move it right.

 

[Josephine]

the Dachau theory of physical therapy

Love it!

he told me what was posted here was a bunch of mess and he went on to say he could write articles about this stuff.

I'm sure he could but it wouldn't be anything I'd want to read!

he basically says I have weeks or try will do mua

Well, you know what? He's missing one very important legal fact - neither he nor the doctor nor anyone else can do anything to you without your written consent! If you say no, that's it. They can't touch you and if they do, that's assault and you could sue him big time.

Actually, you don't need to go to a PT anyway. Very few people in the UK have PT like that, we're just given a sheet of exercises to do at home and checked on every few weeks. You can read my (short) story and see how little exercising I did Knee recovery - UK style. It's rest and gentle stretching that will get you that ROM, nothing else. I've been preaching this for 5 years on this forum and (so far!) there's not been a single member come back and say I was wrong, quite the opposite!

So here is my earnest advice
1. Please do read all the articles Tim left you
2. Take your courage in both hands and quit that PT place - they are causing you nothing but harm and emotional trauma
3. get started on your own programme of recovery.

I also have some questions to ask you:
1. what are your pain levels right now? (remember the 1-10 scale: 1 = no pain and 10 = the worst you can imagine. And don't compare this with the bone-on-bone pain you had before surgery!

)
2. what pain medications have you been prescribed, how much are you taking (in mg please) and how often?
3. how often are you icing your knee and for how long?
4. are you elevating your leg, how often and for how long?
5. what is your activity level? What do you do in the way of housework, cooking, cleaning, shopping, etc., and

 

[referee54]

I'm finding that a lot of these people working in PT here are jocks,(or wannabe jocks- it's a college town) and they have a lot of no pain no gain kind of attitudes.

I was one of the fortunate ones who had PT's who understood; there were other PT's who worked on athletic type of injuries and a set (mine) who worked with joint-replacement patients.

Some don't get it, some do---but the ones who don't get it are doing their patients a huge disservice.

 

[leejaa]

Please if you insist on going back to that PT place, do not have a discussion with them-- Tell them that you understand that they disagree with what you want to do but you will not do it their way and they cannot force you to do anything that hurts-- actually bring a recorder and tell them you are taping this as a record of your wishes or put it in print and bring it with you and tell them it is not up for discussion. Myself, I would not go back there.

I am located in a small town but within 30miles there are more than one PT locations- is there anyone else within a doable range?

Please keep us posted on your progress.

 

[maryo52]

I would contact the manager of this place. And let your ortho know. These people give PTs a bad name.

Many of us have been in your shoes. You really are putting your recovery at risk by going along with these clowns. You will do fine on your own doing a modest set of PT stuff at home.

 

[Celle]

Okay so I just got done with Pt and I went with the mindset from what you guys said and he told me what was posted here was a bunch of mess and he went on to say he could write articles about this stuff. And when I was on the bike they told the other people to do what it take to get my knee all away from so that was 5 minutes of forcing it to bend. Then again when they wanted to measure me on the wall and he basically says I have weeks or try will do mua. There isn't anywhere else I can really go to in town. They told this lady she had 2 weeks to get to 100 or they would be concern 2
Weeks after surgery that's just crazy. They are mad and they basically said if I stay in this mind set I won't improve.

You poor babe! What they are doing to you just makes me so mad!

I think your PT is a misinformed, bone-headed idiot and a bully to boot! You don't have to put up with it and you don't have to do anything he says. At your stage of recovery, you don't even need to be on the exercise bike, never mind doing full rotations.

Please, for the sake of your knee, if you must go back there, TELL him that you will only do gentle exercises and NO ONE IS TO TOUCH YOU. Write that down, sign it, and hand it to him. If he won't agree, don't argue - just shuffle right out of there. Don't sit there and let them hurt you. Can you take someone with you for moral support, so that they can speak up for you as well?

No one can do a MUA without your consent - what are they going to do? Kidnap your knee? Kidnap you and drag you to the hospital? Of course not. That's just scare tactics. Please read the article in the Library that talks about MUA - it says that MUA, if done at all, is far more effective if done late, not early.

You don't need PT at all really. There are articles in the Library about how to exercise your knee. You could just follow those. Apart from the simple exercises I was shown in hospital, I had no PT at all for the first month after my TKR. Then I just had 3 sessions of PT, at 2-weekly intervals, during which the physiotherapist just showed me a few more exercises. By 6 months post-op, I could bend my knee to about 120 degrees (and fully straighten it) and by a year I could bend to 130+ degrees. Simple walking is the best exercise of all.

The Library articles in Group C and group D that referee54 posted for you will help explain what I am saying about MUA and exercises.

Be kind to your knee and be kind to yourself. Best wishes.

 

[referee54]

I went with the mindset from what you guys said and he told me what was posted here was a bunch of mess and he went on to say he could write articles about this stuff.

I have to seriously disagree with your PT---my PT's never pushed my knee nor did the ever bring me to pain. Like I said prior, there were two sets where I went, ; one set worked on ACL/meniscus/"athletic" injuries and such, while the other worked on joint replacement.

You do have a choice, and, like I said, these folks work for you. If you do not like their attitude or their methods, it is time to move on and locate somebody who will help you and who understands this situation of PT in a TKR recovery. There has to be somebody around to help you if you need PT.

I agree with what the previous posters have said; it is your body and nobody can make you do something without your consent; neither the PT nor the MUA will get done if yo do not want them to. Stand your ground.

 

[lovebaby8]

My pain level has been about an 8.
My pains they prescribe was lower than what my RA doctor gives me so I went back on those which Percocet 10/325 2 every 4 to 6 hours.
I've been icing it a few times a day for 20 minutes
I've been having my leg elevated on my recliner.
My activity level isn't all that high due to my ra and other swollen joints but I cook dinner and I get up walk around every couple hours and so my exercises as well.

I just wish they would learn I'm not a normal healthy 27
Year old. I'm a 27 year old stuck in an 80 year body. No cartilage left in my knee ankles and now my hips are becoming bone on bone so it's been rough.

 

[maryo52]

Honey, the way medical professionals learn is from their patients. Once you have decided upon your boundaries, you'll need to defend them. And BTW I'm a medical professional. The ones who think they know it all, don't!

 

[RestAssured]

Well,

We can wish all we want for THEM to change unfortunately, but it won't happen without a strong stand from US! If we don't let them know we refuse to be treated like "pretzels" their will to bend us in any direction they see fit will continue! Your doctor include!

You DO have a choice; when you walk in say, I have the right to be treated with dignity and respect and I WILL call the shots because I know my body better than anyone! Then when they say, well you will probably be looking at an MUA, tell them that is the LAST time you want to hear that! That decision is not theirs to make.

As far as your OS; you pay him also! If he says MUA, smile sweetly and say no. I will overcome this with more time and patience, and if I happen to be in the small minority that doesn't I will get back to YOU!

Keep your power and stay strong! So many of us have fought the fight you are fighting and understand!

 

[lovebaby8]

Okay just got done with pt again and they promised not to bend the knee and when it came to measuring I got it to 95 on my own and they lied they forced it to 115 they said they are doing it for my own good so I don't need the mua in a couple weeks. I screamed so loud my husband heard me in the waiting room and he was ticked. They tell me I'm 27 years old and this should be easy by now. Yes I'm 27 years old with rheumatoid arthritis so I'm 27 stuck in an 80 year old body and its rough. I just wished I could stop coming but don't want to lose the progress I've made. Surgery for Ltkr was September 23rd

 

[RestAssured]

lovebaby8,

You need to explain it this way so they will listen... I will bend my own knee to the point of discomfort and not pain! You promised you would not do that to me anymore, so here's the deal, if you try to force my knee without MY permission one more time, 1. You might have an unexplained burst of pain come from wherever my fist connects. 2. Then I will contact the state board of physical therapists for ____________ state and lodge a formal complaint! I am here to heal, not to be tortured!

 

[puffin]

Do you really feel that you are gaining from being abused like this? It *is* abuse to hurt you like this without your permission. Personally I would never return to a place like this

There is no real need for PT if you feel you can do the exercises at home - in Sweden the norm is for patients to go home 2-4 days after surgery with a sheet of streching exercises and not see a PT until an assessment at 6 weeks out.

One of the problems is that them forcing your knee causes pain and swelling which in turn leads to lower ROM.

If you are determined to go back make it clear that they do not have your consent to touch you and you will walk out if they try

 

[lovebaby8]

I'm not even sure where my knee should be at at this point. 3 months before surgery my knee would stop bending and lock completely in place. When sleeping I had to stay on my pack and put a back pillow under my knee so I could sleep laying with it completely straight would make it so I couldn't sleep. And I know that after this surgery I can't have a pillow under my knee that's what I was told. Where should I be rom wise now that I'm a little more than 4 weeks out. I can get it to 95 but they got it to 115 and they were like you should be proud of that. My reponse was how can I be proud when you guys were the one who did it. There reponse was it only matters what they get it to not where I get it to. I hope this post makes since I keep dosing off so I go to sleep now.

 

[maryo52]

Yes! Our knee will get to x degrees but in early recovery we can only move it to 10 degrees less than (or so).

Remember, injured tissues. Injured tissues. Are not themselves. Take time to be all well again.

Please do not let them push your knee to 115 unless doing so is not painful. It accomplishes nothing. Your ROM is fine. Try to see your recovery as being in infancy. ROM improves all the first year and beyond. Doctors count on 120 degrees at one year. You can get to 115 with help (and that totally counts). You'll be well past 120 at one year.

Now you can go back to sleep!

 

[maggie may]

At about 3 weeks out I was about 88 degrees and very well proud of myself! You should be proud of your 95! And don't let them force you!
Maggie May


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[Celle]

I'm not even sure where my knee should be at at this point. . . . . . . . . And I know that after this surgery I can't have a pillow under my knee that's what I was told.

Sweetheart, stop worrying about where you knee should be. In spite of what you have been told, there is absolutely no fixed target for a certain time in your recovery.

You shouldn't put a pillow behind your knee, that's quite correct. That's because doing that could cause your knee to be much harder to straighten. But you can use several pillows to make a triangle-shaped wedge, so that your whole leg is elevated, with your heel highest of all. Sort of like this: one pillow behind your thigh, two behind your knee and three behind your heel. However you do it, try to keep that knee as straight as possible.

Oh, and remember - if you must keep going to that PT facility, remember that you are in charge. Don't let them hurt you any more.

 

[maggie may]

Thank you, Celle,
For that great description of the pillow heights!!! No one has ever described it so well to me!!
Maggie May


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[Butterfly]

lovebaby8 Just say a big fat NO. These people have no power over you unless you give it to them. They are not God, and they are no better or smarter than you are. You have the absolute right to be treated with compassion and understanding. Those PTs are supposed to be in the HEALING profession, and not scare you or humiliate you or belittle you or hurt you. No one can make you have the dreaded MUA if you just say NO, as RestAssured said above. Listen to your own body and tell these PT people to go suck an egg! You'll be better off without them.

Peace and love.

 

[Celle]

there's an article in the library about how to elevate you leg. I'll try to find it and post the link to it. Don't hold your breath - it might take me a while!