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TKR liam2015: 1 Year Anniversary, Life Goes On!

You will like the rocking back and forth because you will watch yourself getting closer and closer to those full revolutions and one day you will go all the way around (most likely backwards) I feel the stationary bike is my #1 go to now for loosening up the bend. Good luck with gental moves.
 
I did those in the pool on the steps today. I was asking my knee twin to see how close the bionic knee looked to the natural knee. Getting there...
 
@Liam, I am with you in not enjoying the vast majority of *floor/bore* exercise, but....we do need to do *some* to get our strength back. Stinks, I know; pffft! Gary STILL wnats me doing Quad Sets with the soccer ball under my knee, so, I do them. Rocking back and forth on the bike will s-t-r-e-t-c-h that stubborn knee like nothing else; pinky swear! It really does loosen things up, and I can say that with conviction as one concrete-knee to another.

I'm with you on the kneed to find a decent pool! I don't have as many options as I'd like, so it's frustrating. The best one in my area now is rather $$$, and the cheaper ones are crowded and IMO, rather dirty. I will probably end up shelling out the big $$$ because crowded and dirty is such a turn-off; pffft!
 
i'm going to look for spas in hotels or otherwise that have pools. years ago for a winter vacation in banff, we went to the banff springs hotel in alberta; specifically as a treat for me ~ had a wonderful massage, hubby spent time in the pools ~ he's not a big fan of luxury lol. i didn't go in the pools; opted to chill out in a glorious room with a view and healthy snacks. went to the spa in a resort in mexico with pools and jets, showers, etc. glorious. there is an old hotel downtown t.o. we spent for a getaway weekend with a spa pool but it was winter and at the time, not interested...sigh. we have some public pools near us ~ will have to find out the times they have adult swims and/or aqua fit classes. my granddaughter claims that all swimming pool change rooms are disgusting lol!

i definitely need to get my strength back in my legs, not just my knee. can you explain the quad sets you do?
 
Sure thing! Lie in your back with a soccer ball or similar under your tkr knee. Raise and hold the extended position for 5-15 seconds. Lower very slowly. Do 10 of these, 3x a day.

My former, much loved pool was part of a nice hotel that has since relocated; aarrggh. I don't know what will happen to the property but am hoping another hotel will take over and allow outsiders a pool membership. Many hotels around here do not. They just have the pool for hotel guests; pffft!

I am less concerned about dirty locker rooms than dirty pool water. So many seem to have murky water issues; not good!


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thank you so much @Pheebs52. that sounds like something i can do. i can already raise both legs all the way up, (also good for abdominals) but holding a soccer ball would add some weight for strengthening ~ is that the point of the soccer ball? maybe i'll start with something lighter and work up to the soccer ball. :thankyou:
 
@liam2015, no, no, no....you misunderstood me, lol! The soccer ball is placed UNDER the knee for support. Your knee never comes off it. Never. You simply raise the lower leg up to a straight extension and hold it, while squeezing as hard as you can with the quads. It's all about the quads!
 
ahhhhhhh okay gotcha! that's what you said, but i mis-read and mis-understood. thanks for clarifying ~ will let you know how i do. btw, how did they get so weak?:unsure:
 
It was the only quad strengthening exercise I could do pre-op because it places minimal stress on the patella unlike the long arc quads. If I remember correctly it targets the muscles on the inner aspect near the knee.
 
i bought a Synergy Leg Corrective Support (fancy name for a sleeve) yesterday to see if it would help with the swelling. it is infused with activated bamboo charcoal, although i'm sceptical that it makes a difference. i have never been able to stand wearing anything tight; even a necklace has to have at least an 18" chain, and leggings feel uncomfortable although i haven't given them a fair chance. i had one of these "sleeves" that i tried out years prior to this surgery and didn't find it helped any; not sure why i've spent so much trying this one, but getting desperate. my question is: how long is it recommended to leave it on? i had it on for around 2 or 3 hours yesterday before i couldn't stand it any longer and took it off. i will try it again to see if it helps.

i haven't made any significant progress lately in my r.o.m., although today i noticed i could go down the stairs alternate feet a little better, not much, but a little. i also noticed i can bend my leg back slightly more and i can do the stair lunge slightly deeper than a week ago. still no progress on the bicycle. have not been to physio in 2 weeks.

hope everyone has a fun and safe long weekend. tomorrow i'm going on a "pack walk" with my dog, liam, to where our trainer has 100 acres of land and trails. i'm hoping liam behaves himself with the other dogs. he did it a couple times when he was there for 4 weeks of boarding/training. it's an hour and a quarter drive out in the countryside; looking forward to it and also stopping roadside for some fresh corn and whatever other vegetables in season.
 
@liam2015, I've no idea if those *sleeves* actually do anything at this late date, but I suppose it's worth a try? I found them really annoying before TKR so wouldn't have considered one post TKR when I had a lot of visible swelling. One might've helped in the early weeks when my leg was 4 inches bigger than the other, but heck, I couldn't even stand the TEDS, lol.

However,...today I went for a full body massage and my therapist, whom I really trust and is very knowledgeable, and has also had a TKR, did seem to think properly placed Kinesiology Tape might make a difference in reducing the last of the visible swelling. I'll ask Gary about it next week. I know @becticu used the tape and I think @Jennszoo may have as well, with good results. I don't know if the tape reduces internal swelling and of course, that's the thing that can take so long to disappear; pffft!

If you read my post today, you'll see that according to my OS, flexion ISN'T *everything*; who knew? Not us, at least not me, until today; hah! I have a sneaking suspicion my OS just might view you in the same way as he did me; not too shabby! Look at all you can do! A lot! And, you feel good! You walk a LARGE dog! You excel at backwards stairs! You do fairly well on forward stairs!

Just curious why you haven't returned to PT? Did you injure something there? Do you feel acupuncture helped at all? Massage Man said today he indulged in some Reiki after his TKR and felt was very beneficial toward healing soft tissue; might be worth a try. Oh, he also said to NOT walk hills in the woods....uh-oh. I've done it several times, but he insisted it increases swelling. Stick to the flats, said he. He was also negative about the pool until I reach the 6 month point; hmmm. Said it's far to easy to overdo and I know it can be, just because it feels so good while in there.

The "Pack Walk," sounds like great fun! We did something similar when we had previous canine twins, large dogs like Liam. Their trainer organized monthly walks, just as you're describing. One was very well behaved, but her sister not so much, so we stopped attending. I'm certain The Prince will be on his best behavior, lol.
 
@Pheebs52 ~ i stopped going to physio partly because i did hurt myself a little doing a balancing exercise at home; pain down the outer side of my knee down almost to my ankle. also i was looking after my granddaughter every day; fully intended to go back to physio when chloe went on vacation but then decided to take it easy and take the time to ice and elevate during the day which i had not had a chance to do. i had forgotten about the kinesiology tape that you and others had mentioned ~ i will ask melissa about that on tuesday when i go back (haha they phoned me today to see how i was doing, so i made an appointment). i'm going to tell her to just measure my r.o.m. after the massage to where i can get it on my own and not push it further. usually it doesn't hurt when she pushes it a little further, but last time it was too painful for me, especially since i had that other pain down the side of my knee after the balancing exercise a few days before. right now, at home, i'm only working on bending exercises, on the stairs and in front of the mirror bending my leg back, which was always the most painful exercise ~ now it's easier. i think my balance and my walking is just fine. my extension is not very good as i discovered recently sitting on the floor with my legs extended ~ i can get my whole hand under; doesn't seem to bother me though as far as walking goes. i'm pretty sure it's the swelling (and stiffness getting up from sitting) holding everything back.

i forgot to mention that i think i'm "guarding" my knee, afraid to just let go and see what happens as far as going down the stairs. i'm definitely not having progress on the bike though, so i won't be pushing my foot over, that's for sure.
 
I can certainly understand guarding your knee, as I was guilty of the same until I started walking downstairs, foot-over-foot. I think having had an accidental step down the stairs at around Week 3-4, made me ultra paranoid about stairs. I believe you did the same, right? It was certainly a major OUCH at that point, but obviously no longer; phew! Sometimes, if my leg feels tighter than usual, it will be more difficult to execute with good form, but no big pain is lurking around the corner.

When my knee decided on it's own to go flying over the bike in a full rotation, I really expected that same sort of pain. It did hurt a bit, but nothing like that awful, early step down. Not even close. When I tried kneeling on the mattress last week (done without thinking at around midnight) it was much less ouchy than I would've expected. Mostly, it was just odd! Very odd, but not painful. I didn't necessarily *like* it, but it was do-able. And that night, necessary for me to pull the chain on the ceiling fan. I find I don't sleep well without that baby whirling.:heehee:

I'm certainly not going to say we are incapable of causing pain at this point, far from it, but I believe you might be pleasantly surprised if you just let yourself and your leg relax a bit more when it comes to bikes and other activities you expect to really hurt. Perhaps you should just try mattress kneeling? I'm talking about an upright posture while so doing, not sitting back on your laurels, lol. Who knows, it might be just the thing to loosen whatever is blocking your knee. Just try it in "Slo-Mo," and see what happens. If it feels super painful, just stop. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
 
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