TKR LJ55's Recovery - Knee Stiffness

[Rockgirl4]

It truly depends on the person. Most people need a full year to recover from a TKR, and the stiffness/swelling can easily last up to 18 months from what my surgeon told me. Some people swell more and stay stiff longer, for all sorts of reasons.

Personally, I am prone to severe stiffness and continued swelling, as I learned from 10 other knee surgeries. My surgeon's advice was to keep riding a stationary bike 5 minutes a day, each morning, to keep the knee loose. This has sometimes helped and sometimes not, depending on my circumstances at the time over the last year. I will be 1 year post-op in a couple of weeks. I also found a walking routine was great for getting my full extension back and no longer limping. The "heel-toe" step was crucial though, and it's better to go slower and walk correctly than to try walking quickly and incorrectly. It easily took me 8-9 months to get my full extension back, and on high-swelling days (we moved recently), I had trouble getting completely straight again until I iced more and got the swelling back down.

I just want to say I KNOW it's frustrating though. I'm sitting her trying to decide whether to settle for a teleconference with my knee surgeon for my 1 year follow-up or insist on an in-person appointment. I'm still aggravated with my bend. I have 90-95 degrees and CAN exercise, just not the way I want to.

Just keep in mind everyone is different and there's time for improvement. All of us are our own little science experiments. As for me, I KNOW I have mild Arthrofibrosis plus an Autoimmune disease (Psoriatic Arthritis). It took LOTS of history and trial/error to determine this, and I had a major scarring disaster after my ACI surgery in 2015/16. Luckily this taught me to be kind to my knee. I rehabbed slower than most, following my Dr's orders to get the best outcome for ME----I know if I hadn't listened, I'd probably be stuck at 75-80 degrees of flexion instead of 90-100.

So please don't give up on your knee yet. There's plenty of time for improvement.

 

[grey j]

I am 5 months post op and having trouble with my gait when I walk....it is off..and I cannot figure out what I am doing...just read your heel, toe advice ...that has not worked for me. I have determined that my gait is off because my ankle is stiff and doesn’t bend when it should, when walking....does this make sense?

 

[Rockgirl4]

@grey j YES-----This makes complete sense. An ankle that doesn't bend right will DEFINITELY mess with the way you walk.

I have a bad ankle on my non-TKR leg. It gives me grief every couple of years, and last year I needed 10 weeks of PT to get the irritation/swelling down from a simple injury over Christmas. I didn't even know when the injury happened, just that I started having sharp, shooting pains that came out of nowhere. I let it go 3-4 wks and lost a lot of flexion in the ankle, with all of my muscles tightening/shortening around the joint. It screwed up my back too, as I started walking incorrectly over time, not realizing my gait was so off. Once I rehabbed the ankle and got normal mobility, things were MUCH better with my back and my gait. My TKR was the final piece of the puzzle in getting things mostly aligned correctly. I also researched shoes, making sure to buy new ones that dealt with my super high arch and under-pronation problem so I could better protect the ankle from future injury recurrences.

 

[grey j]

Thank you, how long did your recovery take, and the stiff, tight knee to be resolved?....some day are good, not too painful, and some days it is hard to do daily household jobs...I get so discouraged!

 

[KneeHelp]

I had my knee replacement Jan, 2019. I did great until about 4 months and then I regressed. A LOT!

I was so frustrated and sick and tired of listening to unsolicited advice, sometimes from total strangers, about did I do the PT. YES I DID!!

I was having painful back problems, quads so tight I could barely walk. Then my body was so tight and painful I literally was glad to see each day end so I sleep.

I finally went to a doc by our ortho hospital and requested an MRI. My hips were so bad they were deformed.

I have had my first hip replacement and I am waiting for 6 months for the second.

Swelling in my knee went down for the first time in over 1 year. I firmly believe if my hips had been corrected first I might not need the knee replacement for many years.

I'm not saying you have hip problems as I did, just make sure the docs look at other areas of the body. Mine focused solely on my knee since it was the one acting out. I didn't feel the hip pain as much until after the knee surgery. Then it progressed so fast I was in constant pain, except for sleeping.