My extension is 0. All good stuff. I have a follow up appointment tomorrow and am getting my staples out.
Problem is my flexion is only 81 and my physical therapist already warned me that my surgeon is going to want to schedule a MUA at the visit tomorrow. I am baffled and 100% regret getting this replacement as the writing is on the wall that the rest of my life is going to revolve around this. If anyone has gone through this procedure, could you please share about it.
I know it's hard to go against what your PT is telling you, but several of us have advised you that she/he is not the best person for your recovery. She's already caused you some injury. Now, she is worrying you unnecessarily, and to threaten you with the prospect of a MUA is unkind and unprofessional. She's wrong, too, because a bend of 81 at less that three weeks is actually really good.
My surgeon does not expect 90 degrees until at least
6 weeks after surgery.
The only thing that is preventing your knee from bending now is that it's still swollen - it's like a garden hose that won't bend easily because it's full of water. Doing lots of exercise is going to make your knee swell still more, so cut back your exercise and concentrate on doing all you can to reduce the swelling, with lots of
rest,
elevate, and
ice .
Right now, a MUA would re-injure some of the soft tissues that are trying to heal. It is unlikely to do any good at all.
In any case, there is no need to rush to get ROM (Range of Motion), because it can continue to improve for a year, or even longer. There's no such thing as a "window of opportunity".
Myth busting: the "window of opportunity" in TKR
It's never too late to get more ROM!
It's worth the wait for ROM
Recovery from a TKR takes a long time - a full year for all your soft tissues to heal completely - so don't despair. You will improve slowly, until one day you will begin to feel glad you had the operation. Right now, you're still in that difficult first month, the time we call "the dark days of recovery." Things are going to get better.
You do know, don't you, that you are the only person who can decide what will happen with your knee? Other people (including your PT and your surgeon) can offer advice, but the decision is yours. So, you are within your rights to say "No thank you. I don't want to do that yet. i'd like some more time."
I feel like 3 weeks out is too soon to even contemplate this but the stifness and lack of bending is obvious. I was even concerned about it from the start. The doctors and hospital therapists told me time after time to not worry about flexion, just extension. I still worked on flexion despite that advice and am still facing this. I'm just so angry. I also had a setback with feeling a pop during PT day 4 post op and am wondering if that or the lack of therapy for a week after while recovering from that is why the scar tissue formed so soon. However, I even remember asking one of the surgeons at my last appointment 1 week out, if scar tissue could already form, to which he said no.
You're right. Three weeks after surgery is much too soon to be thinking about a MUA. Listen to your instincts and your knee, not the therapist who is telling you scary stories.
Don't worry about not doing any PT while you healed from the damage your PT caused. It won't have set you back one little bit.
My surgeon does not allow any PT at all for the first month after surgery. His patients all do well and he hasn't had to do a MUA for the past 3 years.
Not doing PT for that short while certainly won't have caused scar tissue to grow. You can believe your doctor on that. - because you don't have scar tissue. It simply does not grow as early as that.
What you have (the stiffness and lack of bending) are swelling, a perfectly normal reaction to very major surgery. Your knee suffered major trauma. It's wounded, not lazy, and it needs time and gentle treatment, so it can heal properly. Doing lots of exercise and pushing to get ROM are increasing the swelling. Cut back the exercise and concentrate on reducing that swelling and the bend will appear, all by itself.
I'm going to give you a few more articles to read. They might help:
TKR: work “smarter” and not “harder”
Knee recovery - Lose the Work Ethic!!
Life in the slow lane
What You Should Not Expect To Do After a TKR
I hope this helps. 
United States
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