WFD
graduate
I haven't tried Pilates, but I'll keep it in mind. Right now my knee and shin can only tolerate so much activity I don't dare add anything extra. Thanks.
Amputation Left Above-Knee Amputation, 22 April 2025
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JusticeRider
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WFD I hope the new plan works and strengthening and correcting imbalances will get you on the road to full recovery! Thanks for keeping us updated. As always, I’m rooting for you!
WFD
graduate
Thanks, @JusticeRider.
WFD
graduate
End of Month 14 - 61 weeks
I've been on my new exercise program assigned by my PT for about five weeks now and I am definitely gaining strength in the muscles and movements that had atrophied and become weaker.
One thing that has helped a lot is that my PT spent much of a session massaging tight shin muscle (anterior tibialis on the anterolateral side) and by relaxing the muscle helped reduce the shin pain for neatly a week now. Unfortunately the medial shin and other parts of my knee seem determined to make up the difference and so the total pain level is more or less unchanged and my activities are still sharply restricted.
Also, my knee RoM has decreased and I now have only 75-80° of flexion, more or less the same that I ended up with after each of my previous surgeries, so it seems that the three extra surgeries meant to address the scar tissue growth did not in the end benefit me, and only caused pain and complications.
Sorry to be a bit of a downer, but that is the way it is.
I'm still hopeful that the current exercise program will eventually remove the root causes of the pain that I experience. There is essentially no hope of getting any RoM back, but if I can be on my feet for normal lengths of time without pain then I can at least get things done, do some traveling, and actually enjoy my retirement.
I've been on my new exercise program assigned by my PT for about five weeks now and I am definitely gaining strength in the muscles and movements that had atrophied and become weaker.
One thing that has helped a lot is that my PT spent much of a session massaging tight shin muscle (anterior tibialis on the anterolateral side) and by relaxing the muscle helped reduce the shin pain for neatly a week now. Unfortunately the medial shin and other parts of my knee seem determined to make up the difference and so the total pain level is more or less unchanged and my activities are still sharply restricted.
Also, my knee RoM has decreased and I now have only 75-80° of flexion, more or less the same that I ended up with after each of my previous surgeries, so it seems that the three extra surgeries meant to address the scar tissue growth did not in the end benefit me, and only caused pain and complications.
Sorry to be a bit of a downer, but that is the way it is.
I'm still hopeful that the current exercise program will eventually remove the root causes of the pain that I experience. There is essentially no hope of getting any RoM back, but if I can be on my feet for normal lengths of time without pain then I can at least get things done, do some traveling, and actually enjoy my retirement.
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Just reading back through some of your posts. So sorry to hear of all your ups and downs. I do hope your current exercise programme will lead to some longer term gains.
I also hope to get back to travelling more. It is the one thing I really miss.
I also hope to get back to travelling more. It is the one thing I really miss.
JusticeRider
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@WFD I’m sorry to hear you’re still struggling with shin pain and ROM limitations. It has to be so frustrating to have gone through all those surgeries and not feel like you’ve gained any ground from them. I can’t remember if we’ve discussed this before, but my stationary bike has been my number one tool for working on ROM and also for stretching out my shin. If you remember, I had a similar limp to yours and an extremely tight shin as well from pulling my toe up to swing my leg forward. The bike didn’t work for me at all (couldn’t make a full rotation) until my husband ordered and installed shorter crank arms for the pedals. At that point I could actually use the bike and could not believe the amount of stretch I felt on the front of my shin when pedaling. Is this something you’ve already tried? If not, I highly recommend it. It has been a game changer for me.
Wishing you more healing than you could ever hope for, WFD
Wishing you more healing than you could ever hope for, WFD
WFD
graduate
@JusticeRider , thanks for your reply.
I used to be a bicycle road racer back in the day, and then for much of my life did a lot of mountain biking.
When this whole ordeal begain I bought a stationary bike to use for my rehab. I ended up fitting it with a pedal-swing type shortener on the surgical side because my RoM is poor on that side.
Unfortunately the bike severely aggravated the shin muscle problem and I had to stop using it. When the problem with that muscle gets better (and the massage my PT did is helping) then I will return to it.
I can't wait until I can use the bike because right now the only cardio I get is on my paddling ergometer, and that only works my upper body. It would be great to get some lower body cardio in also.
I used to be a bicycle road racer back in the day, and then for much of my life did a lot of mountain biking.
When this whole ordeal begain I bought a stationary bike to use for my rehab. I ended up fitting it with a pedal-swing type shortener on the surgical side because my RoM is poor on that side.
Unfortunately the bike severely aggravated the shin muscle problem and I had to stop using it. When the problem with that muscle gets better (and the massage my PT did is helping) then I will return to it.
I can't wait until I can use the bike because right now the only cardio I get is on my paddling ergometer, and that only works my upper body. It would be great to get some lower body cardio in also.
JusticeRider
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Oh that’s too bad! Maybe it gave too much of a stretch for what your shin was ready for? I hope you might be able to get back to it after some massage work from your pt. Do continue to keep us updated. I hope this new pt will be a key element in getting you more comfortable and functional.
I've never been an avid rider like you have been, but I thoroughly enjoyed riding in nature and enjoying the sounds, sights, and smells! I missed it terribly when I was laid up with knee problems and could not wait to return to it! You will get there again! That is a goal that you have set for yourself and it's achievable!
WFD
graduate
End of Month 15 - 65+ weeks
I continue to get stronger with the exercise program I've been following. In particular, step-ups, step-downs, and deadlifts seem to be particularly helpful. I also have a laundry list of special exercises addressing all the atrophied muscles that negatively affected my gait.
One problem is that I find that as I increase the height of my step exercises, when I reach the point at which the scar tissues starts to get stretched, I end up with tremendous pain and swelling. As a result I have to limit the range of motion of my exercises, which is disappointing. I don't have quite enough RoM to step up a normal height step and have to swing my hips in a kind of crab walk (as someone here called it) to get up stairs foot over foot. Mature scar tissue just doesn't want to stretch.
Despite all this, in the last week or so the pain level has started to decrease ever so gradually. This is very encouraging as it had been steadily increasing month after month and I didn't know where I would end up. I'm cautiously optimistic that the pain will eventually go away and I can return to some kind of normal life.
One concern is that even now after 15 months my surgical knee is warmer than my other knee, by a few degrees F in the morning and more than that in the evening. Continued inflammation cannot be a good thing.
I continue to get stronger with the exercise program I've been following. In particular, step-ups, step-downs, and deadlifts seem to be particularly helpful. I also have a laundry list of special exercises addressing all the atrophied muscles that negatively affected my gait.
One problem is that I find that as I increase the height of my step exercises, when I reach the point at which the scar tissues starts to get stretched, I end up with tremendous pain and swelling. As a result I have to limit the range of motion of my exercises, which is disappointing. I don't have quite enough RoM to step up a normal height step and have to swing my hips in a kind of crab walk (as someone here called it) to get up stairs foot over foot. Mature scar tissue just doesn't want to stretch.
Despite all this, in the last week or so the pain level has started to decrease ever so gradually. This is very encouraging as it had been steadily increasing month after month and I didn't know where I would end up. I'm cautiously optimistic that the pain will eventually go away and I can return to some kind of normal life.
One concern is that even now after 15 months my surgical knee is warmer than my other knee, by a few degrees F in the morning and more than that in the evening. Continued inflammation cannot be a good thing.
Are you still icing to try and get rid of that inflammation?
WFD
graduate
Yes, every night.
You can increase that to numerous times during the day, too, to see if that will get that inflammation down.
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WFD
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End of month 16 - almost 70 weeks
Not too much different to report. I continue to get stronger from the strengthening exercises. I have had to decrease the height of my step-up and step-down exercises so that I don't stretch the scar tissue - if I do stretch the scar tissue it results in a huge increase in pain and swelling.
It seems that the general pain level is continuing to decrease ever so slowly, but I can easily overdo it. Last weekend my brother-in-law drove up from West Virginia (we live in Mass) to help with some chores (by 'help' I mean he did 90% of the work.) We set a pipe into concrete to hold an umbrella above our picnic table in the garden - the old stand kept blowing over. Then we drilled a 1" diameter by 9" hole in granite ledge so I could glue in a 3/4" post to hold a grill above a fireplace for grilling in the garden.
By Monday I was in huge pain and my knee swelled up, indicating what I think is per anserine bursitis. After a few days of rest etc. the pain has subsided but the swelling has not. Besides the swollen bursa, the entire knee is swollen more than usual. Strangely, the bursitis (if that is what it is) is not painful to the touch - the pain I feel occurs in the lateral shin muscle, outside of the centerline of the shin (the swelling from the p.a.b. is on the inside of the knee, just below the joint.) Has anyone with p.a.b had these same symptoms? Do you think I should go see the surgeon, even if it is not painful? Here is a picture (of my left leg, taken from the inside looking out):
Not too much different to report. I continue to get stronger from the strengthening exercises. I have had to decrease the height of my step-up and step-down exercises so that I don't stretch the scar tissue - if I do stretch the scar tissue it results in a huge increase in pain and swelling.
It seems that the general pain level is continuing to decrease ever so slowly, but I can easily overdo it. Last weekend my brother-in-law drove up from West Virginia (we live in Mass) to help with some chores (by 'help' I mean he did 90% of the work.) We set a pipe into concrete to hold an umbrella above our picnic table in the garden - the old stand kept blowing over. Then we drilled a 1" diameter by 9" hole in granite ledge so I could glue in a 3/4" post to hold a grill above a fireplace for grilling in the garden.
By Monday I was in huge pain and my knee swelled up, indicating what I think is per anserine bursitis. After a few days of rest etc. the pain has subsided but the swelling has not. Besides the swollen bursa, the entire knee is swollen more than usual. Strangely, the bursitis (if that is what it is) is not painful to the touch - the pain I feel occurs in the lateral shin muscle, outside of the centerline of the shin (the swelling from the p.a.b. is on the inside of the knee, just below the joint.) Has anyone with p.a.b had these same symptoms? Do you think I should go see the surgeon, even if it is not painful? Here is a picture (of my left leg, taken from the inside looking out):
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I am really sorry for the pain your dealing with. I hope you're icing, elevating and taking some OTC pain meds as necessary.
Since you're questioning this, you should at the very least contact your surgeon's office. You can ask if they'd be willing to look at a few photos, from different angles, and go from there. They will decide whether you need to schedule an appointment.
Wishing you comfort in your pain.
@WFD
Since you're questioning this, you should at the very least contact your surgeon's office. You can ask if they'd be willing to look at a few photos, from different angles, and go from there. They will decide whether you need to schedule an appointment.
Wishing you comfort in your pain.
@WFD
WFD
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I had a large pes anserine bursa before my surgery. I don't remember the pain as being lateral. I had pain medially and at the back of the knee. Mind you I also had a large Baker's cyst ( still have a smaller one)- which probably caused the pain directly behind the knee.
My p.a.b was sometimes painful to touch but mostly not.
I would agree with @Layla about checking with your surgeon if it doesn't settle with rest/ ice though.
I had apes anserine swelling and pain about a year after my surgery. My doctor prescribed an ultrasound on it, with no exercise and lots of rest. After 6 US treatments, it was much better and has continued to be so! You might want to ask your doctor about that. I was so impressed with the outcome that I ordered an ultrasound machine from Amazon to use with things flare up. It does a fantastic job!
WFD
graduate
So the pain in my knee was continuing to get worse, and I decided that I needed to see someone. Today I had an appointment to see the surgeon that did my revision, and started with x-rays:
As you can see, the tibial component has come loose and managed to hammer its way out through the side of the tibia. Left alone I would eventually just suddenly break my lower leg. All this movement and stress is no doubt the root cause of most of my problems.
So, long story short, I go in Tuesday August 1st for a(nother) full revision, with even longer stems and with the surgeon having the option to fit a hinged knee if he thinks he needs to (he thinks it is unlikely though.)
As Yogi Berra said, sometimes you can't win for losing.
This makes for five knee surgeries recently, and eight for a lifetime total. Two more and I get a free head examination.
I sure hope this works out because I am throroughly sick and tired of surgeries and recoveries that aren't.
Sorry for the rant.
As you can see, the tibial component has come loose and managed to hammer its way out through the side of the tibia. Left alone I would eventually just suddenly break my lower leg. All this movement and stress is no doubt the root cause of most of my problems.
So, long story short, I go in Tuesday August 1st for a(nother) full revision, with even longer stems and with the surgeon having the option to fit a hinged knee if he thinks he needs to (he thinks it is unlikely though.)
As Yogi Berra said, sometimes you can't win for losing.
This makes for five knee surgeries recently, and eight for a lifetime total. Two more and I get a free head examination.
I sure hope this works out because I am throroughly sick and tired of surgeries and recoveries that aren't.
Sorry for the rant.
