TKR Martial Arts Post TKR?

Tkdbob

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I have had total hip and shoulder replacements both sides for both. I have been able to do anything I want such as jogging, weight lifting, taekwondo, etc. I am now getting to the point where my left knee is bone on bone arthritis and my right knee is close behind. My question is, are there any martial artists participating on this forum? I would like to hear about your experience with knee replacements and kicking. I’m 65 years old and use to intense workouts so I need to know how knees hold up, my shoulders and hips are great.
 
Hello @Tkdbob - and :welome:

Please will you tell us the full dates of your hip and shoulder replacements and which joint was replaced each time, so we can make a signature for you? Thank you.:flwrysmile:

It is possible to return to full activity after a knee replacement, but doing martial arts may not be the wisest choice. It probably depends on how long you want the replacement to last and how many surgeries you want to undergo.

While you've recovered successfully from four joint replacements, recovery from a knee replacement is harder and it takes longer. Complete recovery of all your tissues after a knee replacement will take at least one full year.
 
Hi and welcome to BoneSmart!
My question is, are there any martial artists participating on this forum?
Not to my knowledge, I'm afraid.
 
Congratulations on your hips and knees that are successfully letting you enjoy the sports you want to participate in. As the folks have said above, knee replacements can be a bit tougher than hips or shoulders, so be prepared to spend more time with your recovery.

Have you discussed the resumption of these activities with your knee surgeon? I'd be interested to know what he has to say about it.

You might enjoy reading our BoneSmart Spotlight article about one of our members who had his knees replaced and went back to full court basketball after recovery.
 
Thanks for the reply, I haven’t discussed my plans with my surgeon but he is the same one that did my hips. To be honest even if he strongly recommends against martial arts training I’ll do it anyway but I think it’s unlikely he would take that position. I think he would say don’t go overboard unless I’m prepared for revision surgery at some point.

Bob
 
Bob, I'm pretty sure you'll be able to do pretty much whatever you want to do after you've given your knees a chance to heal. Usually about a year. You'll probably feel up to doing basic martial arts moves before then, but the more aggressive parts of the practice should be added gradually as you feel ready. After about six months you'll probably feel comfortable easing into your preferred activities. Go slow, and always listen to your body. It will tell you.

I'm not a martial artist, but that's how I've added in everything I wanted to do after my surgeries. My surgeon at one point didn't recommend I take the stairs two at a time, for instance, and I laughed at him, but just for grins, I tried it a couple weeks ago. Yep. I could do it if I wanted to now.
 
This is just my 2 cents, as I'm not into martial arts myself--- My husband runs his own TKD school and knows one of the fellow TKD Masters in our area fairly well. This Master had knee replacement surgery on only one knee about 4 yrs ago. He's now trying to sell his school, as he can't teach/demonstrate very well at all anymore, and he's feeling his age. It's been rather upsetting for him. He's late 50's/early 60's, though I don't know his exact age. I'm sure this would be an individual experience for each person though. Best of luck to you. It would kill my husband to give up TKD, as it's a passion for him.
 
I’m waiting on a call to schedule my bilateral knee replacements... In all previous joint replacements I was functioning normally after about two to three weeks. Of course there were restrictions on bending and maximum weight I could lift but daily activities were back to near normal.
It's a lot more for knees, typically 12 weeks. And there's little or nothing you can do to speed that up - think of trying to hurry the healing of a broken leg.
not much on same day bilateral knee replacements.
On BoneSmart we take 'bilateral' to mean 'on the same day'.
Here’s a link that is interesting: .
This is from another thread but relates to your own experiences. I would be very wary of people's stories about recovery, especially when they have a vested interest in 'miracles'.
I would like to hear about your experience with knee replacements and kicking.
If you are kicking things hard, then IMO you may have a problem. It is impact that can, long term, cause implants to fail. It's why running is deprecated.
I’m 65 years old and use to intense workouts so I need to know how knees hold up
It depends on what the workout entails. I train hard on my bike and have no worries about my knees, cycling is low impact. Running, jumping, playing squash or tennis, or anything high-impact, needs thought.
 
I know of others in martial artists that have had the same experience as the guy in the video. There is a lot of evidence that returning to kicking after knee replacement is not an issue as long as it is done without excessive impact. What I really want to know is the experience of same day bilateral replacements. I understand that knees may be a bit tougher with recovery but unless there is an issue with the surgery I plan to be walking at least two - three miles a day at eight weeks. Don’t know about using my stepper and swinging kettlebells and Club bells but as long as my doctor gives me the green light that’s something I want to get back to as soon as possible following the surgery. I do much more than that now everyday so I should be going into this is decent shape. Time will tell.
 
What I really want to know is the experience of same day bilateral replacements.
My recovery diary is found from my sig, below
I plan to be walking at least two - three miles a day at eight weeks
My advice is not to plan, just to do what you can without pain and let your knees run the show.
 
The key to a sane recovery, I think, is not to lock in your expectations. Hope is a good thing; perseverance is powerful; and attention to what your own knees need is invaluable. Don’t let an uninformed goal stand in the way of a healthy recovery. You’ll have a better sense of what you can get back to at any given point as you progress.
 
I had expectations for my prior four joint replacements and fortunately I met the expectations. Back to work in about two weeks after a shoulder replacement and took off over the Christmas and New Year holiday for a hip. The other two joint replacements went great however, I wanted to take a long break from work with my last hip replacement and took 6 weeks. Could have gone back a couple weeks sooner. Fortunately being in supervision and management with the Department of Defense wasn’t physically demanding. Now that I retired in October I have all the time in the world for recovery. Time will tell if the knees go as well as my previous replacements which is my expectation.
 
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I had expectations going into this, and I’ve been able to far exceed them. I’m glad my expectations were reasonable to start with. I had been so disabled by psoriatic arthritis going into this that I really underestimated myself.
 
I quit karate because of my knees. I could still stiff leg it around and throw hands and a front kick but I could not do kata well and kept dislocating one knee or the other. I had lost skiing, running, many other things over the years and realized it was time to stop karate too, and thought that after knee replacements I might go back. I knew guys that had gone back to karate and were full of type-A bluster about it. But I have had to wait another five years and got used to having given it up. I found new activities. None of those guys are still doing it.

My priority now is getting as many years out of new knees as I can. I am enjoying learning new things and meeting new people. I asked my Dr about running skiing and karate and he said, sure, you could.

He said he has people who go back to triathlons etc. I then asked, should I? He said absolutely not, don’t do any of that.
He said the Issue is that if he tells patients who are obsessed with triathlons not to do them, they do them anyway, and for the most part it means they come back for new plastic inserts and revisions a lot sooner. So he said he has learned that about human behavior.

I did my pre op check in with one of my other doctors who is a skier and has bad knees. He said “yeah, your fine, but what did the ortho day about skiing after tkr? If I have one can I ski?” This is a Dr asking me! So it’s not just us.

I guess it’s risk reward. I personally cannot imagine taking the risk of karate after going through this. So I bought a boat....
 
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I asked my Dr about running skiing and karate and he said, sure, you could. He said he has people who go back to triathlons etc. I then asked, should I? He said absolutely not, don’t do any of that.
That about nails it, IMO.

For athletes, swimming and cycling are low-impact on knees.
 
Someone I know who had both knees done within a year of each other recently told me this little story:

He asked his doc is he could run again, and the doc said "If you are in the street, and a bus or truck is coming straight at you, then RUN! Otherwise, NO."

My doc said no running, no jumping, no high impact. Elliptical, walking, weight lifting (not extreme), swimming OK.

Do need to ask him about ice skating, but worried about falls with my 67 year-old bones.
 
That doctor had jokes... :running:...funny. Yes, I never ran before, but hope in an emergency I could move out of the way. I plan to add swimming and more stationary peddling to my lifestyle. Never learned how to ice or roller skate. Umm, not risking my new knee to try!
 

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