TKR Left TKR 9/23/19 My Journey

[sistersinhim]

Went to physical torture. As I have been limping for 3 years I have zero quad muscle left. Two of the things hurt so bad that tears were coming out. My God, been home 15 minutes and I'm still convulsing. I'll be back there in 2 days. This is going to be a long haul.

PT should never bring tears to your eyes. A little discomfort is OK, but not pain. Tell them to stop forcing you to do what your knee is clearly not ready to do. Painful PT sets back your recovery. The number one thing for you to concentrate on is healing that knee. Your PT is not helping you heal, it's keeping your knee inflamed, painful and swollen. I wouldn't go back until your knee settles down. Then tell them you are NOT doing anything that hurts your knee.

 

[Jockette]

PT that is that painful is absolutely not necessary and it is bad for you. It will hinder your recovery by keeping your knee inflamed and swollen. Don’t do it.

BoneSmart philosophy for sensible post op therapy

You will have noticed there is a significant opinion here about the potential hazards of PT. You may feel that your therapists are experts and know what you should be doing. However, over the last several years I've been here, I have observed that the more intensive the regimen of exercising...

bonesmart.org

Tell them you want a gentler approach and if they don’t comply, find another facility that will, or do your own rehab at home.
Saying no to therapy - am I allowed to?

 

[Jockette]

You can see that sistersinhim and I agree, we posted at the same time!

 

[Thatbpguy]

PT should never bring tears to your eyes. I little discomfort is OK, not pain. Tell them to stop forcing you to do what your knee is clearly not ready to do. Painful PT sets back your recovery. The number one thing for you to concentrate on is healing that knee. You PT is not helping you heal, it's keeping your knee inflamed, painful and swollen. I wouldn't go back until your knee settles down. Then tell them you are NOT doing anything that hurts your knee.

I do agree. Yelping in stabbing pain while pt keeps replying with, "breathe!" Was horrendous.

 

[Jaycey]

Two of the things hurt so bad that tears were coming out.

Please do not allow this. It is so counter productive. It only increases the swelling that is causing pain.

I hope you can ice and elevate to get this under control. Perhaps cancel the PT all together?

 

[sistersinhim]

Yelping in stabbing pain while pt keeps replying with, "breathe!" Was horrendous.

Not only that. If you tell them to stop and they don't, that is abuse. Tell them you will have them arrested for abuse. I bet they'll stop then!

 

[sistersinhim]

Many of us never took formal PT or did exercises. I am one of them. I had 11 knee surgeries, 2 of them kneecap removals and 1 tkr. Even after those I never took PT. But, I didn't just sit around and do nothing. I took care of myself, my house and yard as my knee allowed me to do. As I healed, I did more. But, my knee was always in control. This was enough therapy for me and would be for any tkr patient. All the awful pain of PT is so unnecessary.

All you have to do is use it in your daily living. Your knee knows how to rehab itself and doesn't need anyone telling it how. Just use it and it will come back like new. You have to be patient, though, it doesn't happen quickly. ADL,(activities of daily living), going to the bathroom, brushing your teeth and bathing, fixing a light meal, getting something to drink and or a snack, those kinds of things will be all the exercise your knee needs. If you just use it daily in your living, you can have a less painful recovery. We know what works, we've been there.

 

[Thatbpguy]

PT that is that painful is absolutely not necessary and it is bad for you. It will hinder your recovery by keeping your knee inflamed and swollen. Don’t do it.

BoneSmart philosophy for sensible post op therapy

You will have noticed there is a significant opinion here about the potential hazards of PT. You may feel that your therapists are experts and know what you should be doing. However, over the last several years I've been here, I have observed that the more intensive the regimen of exercising...

bonesmart.org

Tell them you want a gentler approach and if they don’t comply, find another facility that will, or do your own rehab at home.
Saying no to therapy - am I allowed to?

Yes, I thought about it and am going to do this. I don't mind pushing myself, but it needs to be at my pace.

 

[Thatbpguy]

But, my knee was always in control.

True words were never spoken.

 

[Thatbpguy]

Please do not allow this. It is so counter productive. It only increases the swelling that is causing pain.

I hope you can ice and elevate to get this under control. Perhaps cancel the PT all together?

I am going to follow some suggestions here and talk to my pt to get on the same plane.

 

[Thatbpguy]

So a comment before a question...

The comment is that I have started weaning off opioids. As of yesterday and today, I only need them for pt and night pain.

Which brings me to the question of night pain. Is this normal? Severe night pain? Almost as if the tightness of the compression sock is the culprit.

Happen to anyone else? Any suggestions?

Thanks.

 

[Macknit]

Night pain is very normal, that is the one consideration with my insomnia, even now that I am using less pain medication, I will wake up with zingers from my knee and then a painful restless leg syndrome will kick in.... I usually get up and ice and watch a TV series or something on Netflix. After an hour or so I can go back to sleep!

 

[Thatbpguy]

Night pain is very normal, that is the one consideration with my insomnia, even now that I am using less pain medication, I will wake up with zingers from my knee and then a painful restless leg syndrome will kick in.... I usually get up and ice and watch a TV series or something on Netflix. After an hour or so I can go back to sleep!

Yeah, that was me last night. I was hoping all over the bed. I watch some tv and fell asleep around 1am. Nice to know it's a normal thing.

 

[Celle]

So a comment before a question...

The comment is that I have started weaning off opioids. As of yesterday and today, I only need them for pt and night pain.

Which brings me to the question of night pain. Is this normal? Severe night pain? Almost as if the tightness of the compression sock is the culprit.

Happen to anyone else? Any suggestions?

Thanks.

First, you shouldn't be taking pain meds so you can do PT. Pain is a warning sign that you're doing more than your knee is ready for. Suppress that pain and you lose that warning sign. By doing that, you could unwittingly stress your knee and at least slow down its recovery. A worst case scenario is that you could actually cause damage to your knee.

Second, pain at night is usually a sign of one or both of these things: 1. Doing too much during the day, 2. Under-medication.
Right now, it seems to me that a combination of both those things is responsible for your night pain.

We've advised you several times to cut back the PT exercises to a level the doesn't cause pain. If you do that, you may find your pain also decreases.

The other thing is that if you stop over-exercising, so you don't need pain meds to get through PT, you will have enough pain meds to use them at night, when pain often catches up with you.

 

[Thatbpguy]

First, you shouldn't be taking pain meds so you can do PT. Pain is a warning sign that you're doing more than your knee is ready for. Suppress that pain and you lose that warning sign. By doing that, you could unwittingly stress your knee and at least slow down its recovery. A worst case scenario is that you could actually cause damage to your knee.

Second, pain at night is usually a sign of one or both of these things: 1. Doing too much during the day, 2. Under-medication.
Right now, it seems to me that a combination of both those things is responsible for your night pain.

We've advised you several times to cut back the PT exercises to a level the doesn't cause pain. If you do that, you may find your pain also decreases.

The other thing is that if you stop over-exercising, so you don't need pain meds to get through PT, you will have enough pain meds to use them at night, when pain often catches up with you.

Thank you. I do appreciate your expertise. I will be scaling back pt, based upon your suggestions. I also fully support all your opinions in that area.

As to undermedicating, that's interesting. I suspect that is true. My surgeon requests patients to start weaning themselves off opioids on week 2 post surgery. I am down from 7-8 per day to about 3. Sort of going from a prescribed regimen to a prn basis only.

Thank you again for your responses. I cherish them and take them seriously to heart. BP

 

[Thatbpguy]

Good morning. Day 11.

My left calf pain is subsiding. This will help trying to walk. We live in a very small house (865sf) with a nice wood floor hallway to use my walker on. For the first time, this morning, I was starting to put weight on my left leg. Very weak/painful. But it's progress! I am hoping to take my first step unaided with a walker (but I will be using it) Sunday. That's my goal. I am pumped just thinking about it. Once I start walking, I shall not stop.

I also really want to thank all of you with your positive comments. Those serve to inspire me and to keep me from getting too negative.

 

[Thatbpguy]

Good morning. Day 12.

Lots of leg pain last night trying to sleep. Took an oxy and it barely held for 3 hours so I retreated to my recliner. No noticable improvement from yesterday, but not going backwards either. My goal remains to make a few independent steps day 14, Sunday.

Had some serious lower back pain yesterday as I spend 100% of my time on my back. Ice didn't help. I chatted with my daughter and she uses a heating pad. It really helped and I was able to get 3 to 4 hours sleep.

PT today. One nice thing is they provide wheelchair service in their parking lot. Next week I am cutting back to 2 visits and then once per week after that. Wife made apts and is adamant I go. I go because she is really taking, overall, better care of me than I thought she would.

Finally, Seattle beat the Rams last night when the Ram kicker missed a late FG attempt for the win. Go 'hawks.

 

[NewToMe]

I, too had major issues with calf pain early in recovery. Once we ruled out DVT, it was patience, heat (away from knee) spousal massage for 3 days. THEN I could start putting weight on the operative leg.

Patience, let your knee guide you. Today is 3 week operative anniversary for me, the knee is in charge for sure.

 

[Thatbpguy]

For what it's worth, my new knee is named Sammy. We had a great dog named Sammy that we had to put down due to terrible knee injury to a hind leg. He was a water dog that was afraid of the water. Lived to chase rabbits. So the spirit of Sam is now in my knee. Let's go, Sammy.

 

[Thatbpguy]

Patience, let your knee guide you. Today is 3 week operative anniversary for me, the knee is in charge for sure.

Yes indeed, the knee is in control.