TKR Is this pain normal???

[Mimi26]

Could I ask a couple of questions? I had my left knee replaced on June 29.
How long should I be able to stand without pain?
My pain is not in the knee but in the back of my knee and on the sides of my knee. The pain runs down my leg and up to my hip on a bad day. Is this normal?
My knee is still swollen and the back of the knee is also swollen. My surgeon says that there is not much room in that area and the fluid is irritating a nerve. Have you ever heard of that?

 

[Celle]

Hi @Mimi26 - I have moved your post from the June Sunbeams thread and started a recovery thread for you. Please post about your own recovery on this thread from now on.

The June Sunbeams is just a place where we record who is having surgery that month and where you can see who is having surgery around the same time as you are.

We can't allow people to post about their own recoveries there, because if everyone did that it would get very confusing.
So each person writes about recovery on her, or his, own recovery thread.

Have you been elevating your leg and icing the back and sides? Doing that will help to reduce both pain and swelling. There are articles about elevation and icing in the recovery guidelines that I'll give you in m y next post.
It's not unusual for pain in your knee to affect the rest of your leg, as everything adjusts to a new way of walking, so pain in the rest of your leg and your hip ins't unusual.

The other thing is how much exercise are you doing?
Your knee doesn't need a lot, and doing too much can produce both pain and swelling. Check your activity level against the article about that.

This is a year-long recovery and you're only about a quarter of the way through that, so you still have plenty of time for everything to improve.

By the way, which knee did you have replaced?

 

[Celle]

And here are the promised recovery guidelines:

Knee Recovery: The Guidelines
1. Don’t worry: Your body will heal all by itself. Relax, let it, don't try and hurry it, don’t worry about any symptoms now, they are almost certainly temporary
2. Control discomfort:

rest​

elevate​

ice​

take your pain meds by prescription schedule (not when pain starts!)​

don't overwork.​

3. Do what you want to do BUT

a. If it hurts, don't do it and don't allow anyone - especially a physical therapist - to do it to you​

b. If your leg swells more or gets stiffer in the 24 hours after doing it, don't do it again.​

4. PT or exercise can be useful BUT take note of these

the BoneSmart view on exercise​

BoneSmart philosophy for sensible post op therapy​

5. Try to follow this

Activity progression for TKRs​

6. Access to these pages on the website

Oral And Intravenous Pain Medications​

Wound Care In Hospital​

The Recovery articles:
The importance of managing pain after a TKR and the pain chart
Swollen and stiff knee: what causes it?
Energy drain for TKRs
Elevation is the key
Ice to control pain and swelling
Heel slides and how to do them properly
Chart representation of TKR recovery
Healing: how long does it take?
Post op blues is a reality - be prepared for it
Sleep deprivation is pretty much inevitable - but what causes it?

There are also some cautionary articles here
Myth busting: no pain, no gain
Myth busting: the "window of opportunity" in TKR
Myth busting: on getting addicted to pain meds

We try to keep the forum a positive and safe place for our members to talk about their questions or concerns and to report successes with their joint replacement surgery.

While members may create as many threads as they like in the majority of BoneSmart’s forums, we ask that each member have only One Recovery Thread. This policy makes it easier to go back and review the member’s history before providing advice, so please post any updates or questions you have right here in this thread.

 

[kneeper]

You're not quite 3 months along. At 3 months I was still limited in standing for a length of time. The knee would get stiff and sore. The discomfort at the back of the knee was on of the last to go.

 

[Muldoh]

Hi Mimi! I had my surgery one day after you, and experience some of the symptoms you describe. Seems like my leg hurts in a different place everyday, which I assume is because of all the different muscles I’ve been using to help protect the knee. Not to mention all the tissues that are healing inside. I also still have swelling and stiffness, and like you, standing too long is difficult...It’s much easier for me to walk than stand! But in general, it seems like I am able to do more errands and chores each week, so I guess that is progress And reading the recovery blogs of others on this site has been so helpful to me, as I realize what I am feeling is not unusual for this stage of the game. Best wishes!

 

[Sara61]

@Mimi26 3 months in this recovery is still early days, standing still for any length of time will hurt and your knee will feel stiff afterwards, we all try to get back to our normal daily chores as quickly as possible but our knees still need plenty of rest and care, pain is indicative that one is doing too much.
I'm almost at my 1 year mark and I still find if I stand too long, my new knee gets grumbly.
I iced all sides of my knee in the early days and this helped a great deal. Sending you healing hugs xx

 

[Mimi26]

I am new here and am not sure how to respond to individual responses to my questions, but I want to thank each of you who responded! It means so much!!!!

 

[lovetocookandsew]

While everyone recovers at a different pace, there are some things that are basically universal. At three months, you are at a place where a lot of healing has already taken place, but there is still a lot of healing going on, and it will continue to do so for somewhere around a full year. I know it's hard to be patient and let our knees heal, but that's what it takes.

If you notice pain and swelling, it's a good idea to take regular breaks and elevate your knee, plus ice it while elevating. Not only will this help with the swelling, but the ice is a great pain reducer. As long as you remember to keep a cloth between your skin and whichever icing mechanism you're using, you can ice for as long as you like.

Another good idea is to notice when your knee hurts more or swells more, and see what you were doing in the last day or so that may have irritated it. Our knees will allow some activities, but will also balk at others. If an activity causes pain and/or swelling, it's your knee telling you it's not yet ready for that and you should back off and try it again at a later date.

Eventually your knee will settle down and you'll have days where you don't even think about it, with the occasional day where it's irritated, but at some point you'll realize that you haven't even thought about it for a while, and that's the point where you'll know it's basically finished healing from the surgery. But you can continue to progress and your ROM can continue to improve after the healing is complete.

If you remain patient, allow your knee the time it needs to recover completely, plus ice and elevate as needed, you will find, as you look back, that you are progressing; albeit maybe not as fast as you'd like. That's one of the universal things about healing; we all want it to happen faster than it does.......

 

[Mimi26]

I had my left knee replaced on June 29. I am still having pain every time I try to go down steps. It is not my knee that hurts but the side of my leg. The Pain runs up and down the leg. It is almost like sciatica. The worst pain is at the outside of my kneeThe very back of my knee also is quite swollen at times. The swelling is visible to the naked eye, and when it is like that I can barely bend my knee. Has anyone else experienced this? I’m starting to think something is wrong. My leg gets so tired it often feels like it weighs 40 pounds. I can walk well and can go up steps with ease. Has anyone had this experience?

 

[Roy Gardiner]

Recovery is a roller coaster ride - I would not worry too much yet. Are you overdoing things at all? That can cause all sorts of swellings and bad reactions.

But if you're worried I'd go back to your doctor for a reassurance check-up.

 

[Jockette]

This is a year long recovery and going down steps is harder to do than going up, a lot of us take longer to regain that ability. It will come in time as you heal more.

 

[Celle]

Hi @Mimi26
You'll notice that I have merged your two threads together as we prefer that members in recovery only have one thread.

This is for three reasons:
1. if you keep starting new threads, you miss the posts others have left you in the old threads
2. it often ends up that information is unnecessarily repeated
3. it's best if we can keep all your recovery story in one place so it's easily accessed if we need to advise you.

Please keep all your questions and updates on this thread. Don't worry that we won't see your new question as, between us, the staff read all new posts each day.
If you need an urgent response to a question, just tag a member of staff.
Tagging other members and answering tags

If you prefer a different thread title, just post what you want and we'll get it changed for you.


Here are the instructions on finding your thread, How can I find my threads and posts?
Many members bookmark their thread, so they can find it when they log on. Please will you do that?

 

[Celle]

About going downstairs - It's not at al unusual for that to take longer than going upstairs. That's because going downstairs puts more of a strain on your knee. It's like trying to take all your weight on one leg, while bending it and staying balanced safely, all at the same time.

Give it time and one day you'll find that your new knee can manage going downstairs as well. All it needs is a little more time, to gain a bit more strength and healing.

 

[Mimi26]

Thanks to all who took the time to respond. I am very appreciative!