I had a right knee replacement in December 2019. At 6 weeks I was still stuck at least than 90 degrees. I had built up scar tissue. The doc immediately scheduled an agonizing manipulation. Needless to say I'm now 8 weeks along and no better. In fact worse. The leg pain is making my life awful . HOW can I get my muscles to let go? So discouraged.
MUA Muscle guarding
- Thread starter Amyi
- Start date
I should elaborate on that. I'm younger than the average for this surgery... (47) At least that's what I'm told. I'm in pretty athletic shape which evidently really worked against me. So... Now heading into week 9 and stuff swollen and sore still. Regret this so much. I was hiking and playing just two months ago. With end of the day pain sure .. but I had an active happy life!
I had the manipulation two weeks ago and was given an "every day for two weeks PT regime". It's been horrible. Constant state of Pain. Never healing. I'm no better off (90°) than two weeks prior. In fact the muscle pain is beyond tolerable. Can't sleep 9 weeks in. Going to try letting it rest.
Hello @Amyi - and 
Please will you tell us the full date of your knee replacement and the MUA, so we can make a signature for you? Knowing the exact date will help us to advise you appropriately in the future.
Thank you.
I'm sorry you've been put through so much pain because you have an impatient surgeon and PT therapists.
All that pain and suffering was so unnecessary and your poor knee and thigh are now inflamed and upset. It's going to take time and gentle treatment for them to settle down again.
I'm glad you've decided to let your leg rest, because that's what it needs right now - lost of rest, icing and elevation, and only a little, gentle movement.
This is a year-long recovery, no matter how young and fit you were beforehand, and there's nothing you can do to speed that up. Although that's frustrating, it's also a good thing, because there's no need to rush. You have all the time in the world for your knee to heal and regain normal function.
There's no need to rush to get ROM (Range of Motion) because it can continue to improve for a year, or even much longer, after a knee replacement. There isn't any deadline you have to meet:
Myth busting: the "window of opportunity" in TKR
It's not exercising that gets you your ROM - it's time. Time to recover, time for swelling and pain to settle, and time to heal. Your knee has the potential to achieve good ROM right from the start, but it's prevented from doing so by swelling and pain. As it heals and the swelling goes down, your ROM (both flexion and extension) will gradually increase.
Please will you tell us the full date of your knee replacement and the MUA, so we can make a signature for you? Knowing the exact date will help us to advise you appropriately in the future.
Thank you.
I'm sorry you've been put through so much pain because you have an impatient surgeon and PT therapists.
All that pain and suffering was so unnecessary and your poor knee and thigh are now inflamed and upset. It's going to take time and gentle treatment for them to settle down again.
I'm glad you've decided to let your leg rest, because that's what it needs right now - lost of rest, icing and elevation, and only a little, gentle movement.
This is a year-long recovery, no matter how young and fit you were beforehand, and there's nothing you can do to speed that up. Although that's frustrating, it's also a good thing, because there's no need to rush. You have all the time in the world for your knee to heal and regain normal function.
There's no need to rush to get ROM (Range of Motion) because it can continue to improve for a year, or even much longer, after a knee replacement. There isn't any deadline you have to meet:
Myth busting: the "window of opportunity" in TKR
It's not exercising that gets you your ROM - it's time. Time to recover, time for swelling and pain to settle, and time to heal. Your knee has the potential to achieve good ROM right from the start, but it's prevented from doing so by swelling and pain. As it heals and the swelling goes down, your ROM (both flexion and extension) will gradually increase.
Here are the BoneSmart recovery guidelines we give to everyone with a new knee:
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:
3. Do what you want to do BUT
4. PT or exercise can be useful BUT take note of these
5. Try to follow this
6. Access to these pages on the website
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.
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
ice
take your pain meds by prescription schedule (not when pain starts!)
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
5. Try to follow this
6. Access to these pages on the website
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.
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It would be good to know what bend the doctor obtained, and whether adhesions were broken. If the bend was good you'll know that there's nothing actually stopping ROM improvement.
Please do. Don't do anything that causes you pain, certainly not exercises.
Macknit
graduate
Hang in there @Amyi... this surgery is (as mentioned above) a one year recovery and you have to rest, ice and elevate often. I'm at 5 1/2 months post op, still have days where I ice and elevate more than 2-3 times, because of daily activities that happen often in my life!
Once you get past 3-4 months you will be experimenting with how much activity you can do, then you might have to not do anything for a day or two, depending on the activities. We are all so different, but as you read through the forum, you'll see that age doesn't effect your recovery as much as you would hope it would. It will pass much faster than you can imagine, but while your in the mix of recovery it does seem to last forever.
Best of Luck and keep reading and writing here, the advice is the best!!!
Once you get past 3-4 months you will be experimenting with how much activity you can do, then you might have to not do anything for a day or two, depending on the activities. We are all so different, but as you read through the forum, you'll see that age doesn't effect your recovery as much as you would hope it would. It will pass much faster than you can imagine, but while your in the mix of recovery it does seem to last forever.
Best of Luck and keep reading and writing here, the advice is the best!!!
