TKR Left TKR 9/23/19 My Journey

94 degrees at 6 weeks is just fine. If your OS pushes for a MUA, he's one of the few that do it after a knee is 90 degrees at 6 weeks. You are past that. Ask him what bend he got on the operating table after he sewed you up? That's the minimum bend you will get when your soft tissues heal and all the swelling goes down. That takes time, up to a year's time and for some, even more.

And by the way, what's wrong with a bend of 120? Numbers don't matter. It's what you can do. Please try and not worry about it, that bend will come and you'll be able to do the things you want to do. But, that takes patience. Oh how I hated that word, but time and patience is what it takes to rock this recovery.
Yep, I need to knuckle down. I'm going to pass no matter what he wants.
 
Last night, ROM 95.

Saw surgeon today and he made a HUGE push for MUA. His points are that at this stage I have a real chance of ending up with a permanent stiff knee and ROM never getting past 100. And by the time I need to do something about it, it will be too late. I have a 2 week window of opportunity to get this done. He admits there's a fair/good chance that I will slowly continue to improve, but thinks I will not ever get past 120.

His case was compelling, but I am going to opt not to do the surgery and just see how this all plays out.
 
He admits there's a fair/good chance that I will slowly continue to improve, but thinks I will not ever get past 120.
I’d say a fair/good chance is pretty good. You may get more than 120 over time. I don’t know what my numbers are but they continued to improve after my second year anniversary. It took that long for my whole leg to relax and heal and allow me a better bend. And I did not work at it, it was all daily activities.

And, an MUA can be done at almost any time. We just had a member have one at 10 months post op, so it’s not “now or never.” 6 weeks is a drop in the bucket in this 52 week (on average) recovery.
 
He admits there's a fair/good chance that I will slowly continue to improve, but thinks I will not ever get past 120.
I’d say a fair/good chance is pretty good. You may get more than 120 over time. I don’t know what my numbers are but they continued to improve after my second year anniversary. It took that long for my whole leg to relax and heal and allow me a better bend. And I did not work at it, it was all daily activities.

And, an MUA can be done at almost any time. We just had a member have one at 10 months post op, so it’s not “now or never.” 6 weeks is a drop in the bucket in this 52 week (on average) recovery.
I have spoken with 6 people, about my age, who had a tkr with poor rom at 6-8 weeks. None of their doctors recommended a MUA and their stiff pain subsided at 5 to 6 months and at 1 year all were 120+. So I'm just gonna stay the course.
 
Don’t bank your pain killers. Take them according to the doctors instructions. You can get another script for them as needed.
 
Hello. Now that I am back to work, it's hard to keep my knee from swelling. But I fight the good fight. Reached, for me, a milestone today. I am 10 weeks post surgery and ROM hit 110. I remain thankful for the advice here for not having the MUA. And even though knee pain when I sleep is lessening, sleep still eludes me. I started taking 50mg of Tramadol. Very mild and I don't feel punchy in the morning. Then again, it only helps a bit, but it's enough. Anyway, hoping to hit 120 before year's end.
 
@Thatbpguy I had more swelling after going back to work too! A lot of different pain in odd places....that still wakes me at night about once or twice a week. Overall my knee is very functional, I have no idea what ROM is....still do PT once a week, but they don't measure :loveshwr:. I just ride the recumbent bike, do stretches, and then get help with my tight IT band. I'm pleased at this point.

It sounds like you made a great decision about the MUA, it's tough when they believe in themselves so much!
 
@Thatbpguy I had more swelling after going back to work too! A lot of different pain in odd places....that still wakes me at night about once or twice a week. Overall my knee is very functional, I have no idea what ROM is....still do PT once a week, but they don't measure :loveshwr:. I just ride the recumbent bike, do stretches, and then get help with my tight IT band. I'm pleased at this point.

It sounds like you made a great decision about the MUA, it's tough when they believe in themselves so much!
We sound like we have parallel recoveries.

So the last 2 days I was able, once or twice, to make a full backwards rotation on the bike. Have you been able to achieve this yet? When I did it was paaaaaaiiiiiinnnnful.
 
Very similar! The rotation is painful if you push it....I just would take it to the point of discomfort at first then go the other direction...so I wouldn't let it hurt me.

The PT assistant had worked with a lot of knees and has my leg at a full extension and the seat is angled backwards. Once that happened I was able to rotate both directions, with no resistance, at about 4 weeks, . Maybe that's all you need, is to adjust the bike??? It really changed my progress also!
 
Very similar! The rotation is painful if you push it....I just would take it to the point of discomfort at first then go the other direction...so I wouldn't let it hurt me.

The PT assistant had worked with a lot of knees and has my leg at a full extension and the seat is angled backwards. Once that happened I was able to rotate both directions, with no resistance, at about 4 weeks, . Maybe that's all you need, is to adjust the bike??? It really changed my progress also!
At 4 weeks??? You're a range of motion super star!!
 
I have had success early on with the ROM, but random, rotating, inconsistently consistent pain has not evaded me whatsoever!!!! :holysheep::groan:
 
Pain is my constant reminder I am not invincible, lol, and I can say I was able to make a full rotation forward and backwards on my recumbent bike and the pain was just below yelling out a bad word.
 
Pain is my constant reminder I am not invincible, lol, and I can say I was able to make a full rotation forward and backwards on my recumbent bike and the pain was just below yelling out a bad word.
Sadly mine led me to say a few naughty words.
 
Hi, everybody. I didn't mean to abandon ship but since my last post life has been chaotic and sad. So I wanted to provide an update at 6 months.

I got off to a terrible start with poor ROM and an even poorer physical therapist. My surgeon wanted to do a MUA. Taking the advice of the good people here I found an excellent PT and opted away from the MUA.

Now my ROM with my leg extended is pretty much normal. Bending is not so good- about 116-120 degrees. But the PT tells me there is plenty of looseness in the knee and ROM will get better. Aside from severe tendonitis in my right foot (TRK to left leg) I'd be walking about 2 miles per day. I'm making up by riding a stationary bike at PT for 15 minutes and I have ordered one for home.I had weaned myself off narcotics about 1 month ago (just using for night pain) and now rarely take OTC meds. Pain persists, but not too bad.

I want to encourage those of you getting off to a slow start as I did to take heart. It will get better. And better. Also, take the advice of the good people here. A LOT of very sage folks. Talking me into a better PT and away from a MUA were both game changers for me. I am trying to be patient with ROM....

This is a great website and I have steered several people over.
 
Sounds like you are doing great @Thatbpguy ! Glad you found the BoneSmart method of recovery helpful. Please keep us updated!
 

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