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@Pumpkln my O.S. knows of my drainage, I was in last Friday as I had, had it covered for a couple days straight and it started to smell, so I thought maybe I had gotten infection in it. He told me it was fine, but wants me to clean it daily and leave the bandaid off, the area is smaller now than it was on Friday some of the old scab has fallen off.
As for P/T most of what they've done for me I don't mind, the stretches, my biggest dislike about p/t is especially one therapist talk of MAU, it seems that was the talk from my second session on, I just find it discouraging. I don't know what I could do on my end to make my ROM any better any sooner than just letting it happen on it's own. I don't think I have to many P/T sessions left, then I will be left on my own to continue on which is fine. The only thing is I would from time to time like to know what my ROM is, to make sure I am continuing to go forward in recovery as I think MAU will be stuck in my head till I do fully recover. ( if a person was to quit P/t would that affect your health insurance any as it is something that must be part of the overall tkr scheduled plan for a fully recovery, wouldn't want the insurance to say you didn't follow thur and didn't have a full recovery so we aren't going to stand behind paying for certain things. )
 
At this point you might be better off quitting PT. Continue to ice and elevate several times a day. You could still have some swelling present even though it's hard to see. Try not to dwell on numbers for range of motion. I found it more helpful to see what I'm able to do each day than I was able to do last week. Am I starting to go upstairs or downstairs better? Can I pedal a bike? Can I walk farther than yesterday? Do I have less pain? I think those are more important. As long as you keep progressing even if it's too slow in your mind you won't need a MUA.
 
You don't need to measure your ROM to know that you're improving. Things will become easier to do, like getting in and out of a car, up and down out of a chair, just normal daily activities. I agree that you don't need pt anymore. I have never had pt but one time on my knees. None at all after this replacement. I went to my OS and he said I was doing great! I never told him I haven't gone or taken pt. What he doesn't know doesn't hurt him! It just goes to show you that we can do all our rehab on our own. I do stretches and ride a recumbent bike and then just my daily chores. You can do the same thing and improve and not hurt yourself! Please think about quitting pt. Your ROM will increase when your knee isn't swollen. If you continue pt, it will continue to be swollen. It needs to heal. I'll be 10 weeks out tomorrow and I'm still healing. My OS said to give it 6 months.
 
I agree Pumpkln, Marian and Paula, the swelling needs to go down and anyone pushing your knee will add to the swelling. ROM isn't improving due to the swelling. It seems you're in a vicious circle.
 
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wow some excellent advice from @Pumpkln ,@KarriB and @sistersinhim, I went for the p/t today and I think it was one of the roughest ones I've put in I have like a catch in my leg, starts on the left side of my tkr and goes down my shin some. But even my good leg and arms are achy today, maybe were going to have a change in weather. Go see the O.S. on Monday and at that point I hope nothing more is spoke of, of p/t. I'm ready to just do my own thing as many of you have suggested,.............everyday living.
 
also got my letter on my return date for work, work for a school dist, most of the time in the library but I do also have other duties. Depending on how the next week or so goes, will give me a idea if I'll be ready for the 1st of Sept. Have some time to put in here in August a day or so, so that will be the tell all to know if I am ready for more, or to go back part time for a bit or what.
 
I hope you don't suffer from that rough pt. Get plenty of rest, ice and elevation!
 
I've learned thru the advice from many here that you have to speak up & refuse to let PT hurt you in any way! We must be in charge of our recovery not PT. I spoke up, and it's been so much better since & I'm improving. I wish you the best in your recovery as well as going back to work.
 
Still experiencing sore legs, mostly the surgery leg but also the other some, wondering if it's a change in weather, or P/T that made me sore. My leg is swollen so ice and elevation will be my friends for the day. Just wondering sometimes can you have problems not brought on by anything you've done, or is it usually you've done something and your leg is letting you know??? I know this is probably a silly question, but I hadn't thought I had over did it. This is the second day of soreness and a achy leg, but I did go for P/T yesterday which was rough as I felt like I had this catch in my leg from my knee down my shin. I haven't been overly active prior to my tkr replacement stayed away from excessive walking as I usually would end up limping, so wondering if just this added movements is making a reaction of being achy???
 
If you are having a rough time at PT you have answered your own question. It seems to point to PT as the reason. Your knee can continue to swell for up to a year but should slowly decrease over time.
 
zzevi,
Be sure you tell the OS PT is not helping and that you can do better on your own. You have several posts after PT that you have more pain and swelling. Time to stop beating your knee up and take care of it yourself.
 
I completely agree with Pumpkin. It's perfectly OK to take care of yourself instead of overdoing it in PT. In fact, it's preferred! You don't have to pay for it and you don't have to leave the house of burn the gas! But, best of all, you are in total control and have no one to please but yourself!
 
I think you have answered your own question, it looks like your PT is too aggressive. When I was doing PT my leg/knee would feel tired after PT but I was not in pain for 2 days afterwards, that only happened to me the first time I went to PT then I took control and made sure that if it was painful when I started to do it then I would not do it again. I only went to 6 PT visits, and now I do the bike and exercises at home, my ROP is 125 and extension 0.

I hope you feel better soon!!!
 
thanks everyone for such good advice. I am going to concentrate doing more managing on my own. I've been icing and elevating, but the majority of the time in the recliner, probably not getting my leg high enough to be as beneficial as it should. Maybe as the swelling subsides more heels slides will become easier for me, I can't seem to get my leg up very far, I found on the internet a exercise for a wall slide and I am able to actually do that better than the heel slide. Also sitting on a bench and using my good leg to pull back my surgical leg has be hard for me, I can do it some. Exercises that require me to do more seem harder than letting some one else apply the pressure to move it back. I am going to move back to square 1 and start over with just basis stretches. I am able to do stairs, getting better coming up, going down on short sets isn't to bad on long sets I seem to prefer to go one by one. Swelling is down today, still have that sore spot that runs along the outside of my knee to my shin at times, not sure if a tight muscle or weak muscle, or exactly what's going on there, asked the P/t and he said it could be many different things, I'll ask the O.S. on Monday about it. Plan on cutting back on all activities this next week and see how that goes, along with just using the bed more for icing and elevating and doing basic flex and extension exercises. Last week I had made some advancement in ROM up to 95, this week with the additional swelling I had went to 90 on my own again and 95 assisted, but I've felt the extra swelling since Wed. P/T seems to think I am stuck and that the O.S. won't be happy with my progress at this point. I plan on standing firm on MUA for a bit, would like to see what the next month can bring in the line of progress if I cut back and start fresh. ( open to your thoughts on my plan, I feel it's there, it's just to swollen at time to move.)
 
Also the p/t took a measurement of my open wound yet, I am 7 wks out and still have some drainage, not much, but exercising and bending seems to make it weep some. ( if I can figure out how to post a photo I will) My brother in law thinks I should have it pulled back together and stitched, the p/t just said your seeing the O.S. on Monday. Still not sure what caused this, the lower part is perfect and the upper part isn't bad. I did have that pocket of fluid for about 4 wks on my knee maybe that pressure broke it loose some how??? It's not infected, doesn't hurt, just looks gross and does get people attention when not covered.
 
Keep it cleaned and covered until you see your OS. If you have any pain, more drainage or a temp contact your OS right away. Hopefully the area just needs a little more to heal.
 
Yes if you're seeing your OS on Monday be sure to ask him about the open part and seeping. I found that when my knee was really swollen it helped me to lay on the sofa, put my legs up on the sofa arm and ice at the same time. My toes were above my nose and it really helped swelling to go down.
 
That extra elevating and icing really worked well yesterday, don't feel as near as stiff and sore this morning. Slow day planned ahead with more elevation and icing in my future. On the other hand had a awful night for sleeping, slept 2 hrs, up for 2, back to bed a wake for an additional hr, then another couple hrs of good sleep...........grrrr. Slept those first few hrs and then was wide awake.
 
Question could that pain I've started to experience on the outside of my left knee be the IT band, been reading some post about that and it sounds like a possibility to me.
I will admit, I was in ok shape prior to this tkr, but not great shape, walking any distance had become hard for me to do, and I was having other issues with my knee so I am sure my muscle were weak to begin with and now doing all this has been helpful but made many of these unused muscles sore.
 
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