TKR Lel's Recovery Thread

[referee54]

I am not sure if have ever written that, but it is certainly true! This is not an athletic training event, but a major traumatic surgery recovering event.

As others have pointed out, you are doing too much and working the surgical knee too much---and it is in charge and it is fighting back.

As difficult as it may be, you need to fight the urge to continue to work this hard---take it easy, rest, ice, and elevate a lot, and let the knee calm down. You cannot bend a swollen and stiff knee as hard as much as you want to try. Herding cats is easier than bending a swollen, inflamed knee.

 

[Lel]

Thank you to everyone who responded. I have slowed down, and now guests have gone from New Year, have spent some time reading articles more carefully. I plan to continue with more of this over the next few weeks and stop trying to be superwoman. ( I have stopped walking around with my ice pack!!!) I have found massaging a real help- it is beginning to gently loosen up the tightness. I am doing my exercises, but GENTLY and hoping that the bend will come- need to read through more articles on this. So now I am feeling much more positive- I also had a better session with the physio on Friday and she was happier with my slowed down walking (not limping) and was much more gentle. I hope those of you in the US aren't too affected by these terrible storms we keep reading about over here- we have the rain and winds here but not the snow.... yet!!!!

 

[Lel]

I am now 5 weeks post op - still doing all the gentle exercises- especially ones which increase ROM . icing and elevating. I have just changed my anti inflammatory drug to Naproxen as the big concern is still my ROM. It is a rather worrying 55-60 degrees. I've read a lot of articles and very few people seem to be as low as this- everything around the knee just feels incredibly stiff and tight. Is there anyone else out there who has this problem so severely- I can straighten it beautifully. I see my surgeon in a weeks time.

 

[DogLoverx3]

Hi Lel. You have a great attitude and spirit about you. I'm glad you've found bonesmart! Although I am able to get to @ 90/-5 ROM, I have been 'stuck' there for 2 weeks. It's easy to get discouraged in this process but I truly believe that ROM issues are due to swelling as it's impossible to bend something so 'full'. I've made the mistake of doing too much (who knew that just standing for any length of time would be considered 'too much'?) during my recovery. From all I've read on here, ROM can and will increase in time and there's no 'set' window for this. Although your ROM is on the low side, I'm sure it's temporary. Make sure that you are icing and elevating properly and around the clock. It's wonderful that your extension is at zero, btw! Kudos for that!

 

[Lel]

I am now four and half months after my op. I've worked hard on my ROM and its around 95-100 which I'm really pleased with. There are lots of positives- I have returned to work full time and I am walking a lot better. However- I still get a lot of pain around my kneecap, I struggle with stairs ( I can bend my leg to step up but don't seem to have the muscle strength to pull up without using my arms and I still get a lot of stiffness/soreness around my knee generally. Also my knee sometimes buckles a little. Is this normal? I am still taking co-codemol 500/30g -two tablets three times a day too. Any advice would be welcomed- in some ways I feel as if I've come a long way but in other ways this op seems to have it's limitations too.

 

[Jozilla]

You sound like you are doing well. We probably had surgery around the same time. Stairs are still difficult for me to do normally. I do force myself a little every day in hopes that my muscles strengthen and this improves. So you are not alone! Other than the stairs and kneeling I am really happy.


RTKR - 9th December, 2013

 

[kneeper]

Stairs can take a long time but will gradually get better.

 

[Chihuahuan]

Hi Lel: I'm another December knee person. Stairs are still a challenge for me too but it is getting easier. It all takes such a long time. I have a fairly high pain tolerance so take no meds for the twinges.

 

[Lel]

Thank you so much for your replies- it is so encouraging to read other December knee people's views. Fortunately there are few stairs where I work but there are some at front- with a rail and I seem to go for ages without progress, then suddenly this week I felt a little easier going up and down so I guess its just all about patience. I also struggle with kneeling- I think this also takes time. I'm kind of like a giraffe when I need to get anything off the floor, under the bed or cleaning out the guinea pigs!!

 

[Chihuahuan]

Totally relate to feeling like a short round giraffe with splayed legs to reach anything! Great description. I discovered that kneeling was causing my left TKR to have lots of pain and spasms so I've stopped even trying to --made a huge difference. Stairs are also becoming much easier -- glad we are progressing together