Bilateral TKR Knee pain pre surgery vs post (opinion)

[1359Arc]

Hi everyone ! I am due to have bilateral knee replacements in August (26th)...I’m currently bone on bone in the medial sides of both knees . My question is this… does anyone with similar experience feel the pain pre surgery is much worse than post surgery ? I have difficulty standing and walking now because of the pain. Anything more than a few hundred feet really hurts. I know it will be a different type of pain but can anyone say they noticed an immediate difference in the type or level of pain after the surgery ?

 

[Roy Gardiner]

Pre-op pain is bad, crippling, horrible, demoralising, and only gets worse. Post-op pain can be as bad, sometimes in the first days. Your body is shocked -- someone has attacked you with saws, hammers and other assorted weaponry, cut bits of you off and hammered foreign material in. It's no wonder it's a bit discommoded!!

But the key fact is that the pain gets BETTER.

One's condition post-op is sometimes worse than pre-op for a few days or up to a MONTH later. One has to learn to roll with the punches, to relax, take medication, let the body do its thing and heal. It will do this all on its own. PT can be helpful with this process, but the key element is time.

But it will happen. Millions of TKRs are done every year; this wouldn't be so if it didn't work.

I found it worse for maybe a month. But controllable.

 

[FourCats]

I had pre-op pain of 12 on a scale of 1-10. I can honestly say that (in comparison to pre-op) I haven’t experienced anything I would really call pain. Discomfort, yes. I only took three pain pills in the first 24 hours after surgery and have been doing well with acetaminophen every eight hours, sometimes even less frequently. I was faithful to elevating and icing for the first two weeks which I know helped. I’m just over eight weeks post-op and am doing great.

 

[BBCG]

Roy and FourCats are correct, and I love Roy’s to the point analysis! I was bone on bone on my just-done (7 weeks out) right knee, and I had been dealing with that pain for 3 years. It had gotten so bad I was wearing a neoprene leg wrap to pull my knee back out laterally to help cause less pain. I couldn’t stand or walk, or even drive comfortably. Couldn’t work in my store anymore, etc.
But, by week 3 pain was so much less, the only pain was around my incision and in the places where the un-operated leg had been stressed those past years. Those places are sometimes achey, but I can apply an herbal CBD salve (legal in my state), and quell most of that pain. When I walk now? No pain in the joint! No offset compensating now, so my hip doesn't hurt, etc! When we are in pain, our bodies naturally try to “help” and compensate, so all of that disabling ache is gone, too.

SO worth the temporary recovery aches and short-lived initial pain at the site!

 

[1359Arc]

Thank you all for your replies!!! I was just trying to gauge what to expect and what I am up against !

 

[MARYCOOL]

I feel like my surgeon didn't warn me about how bad this would hurt, and how long the recovery would be. I am so happy I found Bone Smart, or I would be clueless!
With that said, I am absolutely going to do my other knee, because now 4 months out, my new knee is the strong knee!
Just remember to have a ton of patience, it really is a great gift of a surgery!

 

[Celle]

@1359Arc ,
Your thread title says "Bilateral PKR" (partial knee replacements) but your signature says "Bilateral TKR" (Total knee replacements).
Please will you clarify this for us and tell us which surgeries you're having?

Thank you.

 

[Celle]

I found another post of yours, in Taoquest's thread, that said you're having bilateral TKRs, @1359Arc , so I'll change your thread prefix to "Bilateral TKR".

 

[1359Arc]

I am having bilateral total knee replacements…. Sorry for the confusion. I must have have hit the wrong key or the predictive text stepped in…

 

[Jeaniesknees]

@1359Arc I am at week 14 post bilateral TRK. Before I lived in Ibuprofen and wore a knee brace in my worst knee everyday. I now take some Ibuprofen at bedtime, no braces but I do use compression hose to help with swelling, none of the horrendous stabbing pains on the medial knees when I walk that I used to have. It felt like an ice pick stabbing into my Knees. This is a tough surgery, I had a lot of help the first month (it kind of made me lazy)
Today I did some errands, took a 30 minute rest, road the lawn tractor and mowed a couple acres, sprayed some weeds, cleaned out some landscaping. Messed around the house putting things alway. I am tired and mild knee ache but not bad.
Best wishes for your new knees!!

 

[MonarchMama]

1359Arc: Roy Gardiner's post described my experience exactly. The first 2 weeks were really rough and quite painful but by 5 weeks post-op I was mostly pain-free and walking very well. The surgeries were more than worth it. I'm now 8 weeks post-op and Life is Good!

 

[1359Arc]

To All that have responded so far ! I really would like to thank you all for taking the time to comment and share your experiences. Needless to say, I am nervous and excited to get this surgery completed… And to hopefully be free of the bone on bone pain, hip pain, leg cramps , etc , etc. thank you all for your virtual support also…it is much appreciated!

 

[AfterCare]

I think much of the expectation also depends on how much pain exactly you are currently having, how you manage that pain and how it affects your life overall (and for how long it has done so).

In my case, I should have had these surgeries years ago. I had been having all manner of injections, braces and taking a number of pain pills daily - which enabled me to Barely do my job, but leave me unable to do anything more besides that. So even if my pain was 11/10 on several occasions post-op, just standing on that new, solid feeling knee confirmed to me that it was worth it (and yes, the pain got a lot better about 4 weeks later).

 

[kneeper]

Pre-op the knees were constantly on my mind. Post recovery they were the last thing on my mind.

 

[Taoquest]

I am only one week out, but when I stood still today, I felt centered, straighter, taller. No side pain on the outer knee. The joints felt a little heavier but seemed to have more “heft”.
Like you, I feel like I waited too long, but my body told me when it was time. I had to go through the gamut of injections and jels to my knees, and then nothing worked. I have no regrets, and the recovery time is a small price to pay for this fabulous feeling.