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PKR My Drama Queen Patellofemoral Knee

I did it the BoneSmart way for my 10 previous knee surgeries before I even came to BoneSmart. I knew I didn't have to do PT. It had been proven to me through my own actions! I used my knees the way my knees were supposed to be used and let them heal on their timetable. Because, there is no other timetable in rehabbing after knee surgery. Your knees are in total control of that and if you try to speed it up, you'll just slow it down!
 
@sistersinhim
When my son was in high school, in November 2000, he broke his leg, the smaller of the two bones in the calf. He did not need surgery and was not sent to PT. (I don’t remember PT being so popular back then) The Orthopaedic Dr told him he could play basketball again when he could walk without a limp. He was in an air cast. He was playing again the last week of December, wearing the air cast for protection when he played.

He recovered and regained strength without PT, just doing ADL’s. Unheard of today.
 
It makes you wonder why all the stressing about PT now. It has to be, in part, because it's big business. It makes lots of money. Many OSs are part of a big facility that also has PT attached to it. No wonder they want you to take PT. It is a money making business. And, if they keep you swollen and your ROM down, then you have to stay in PT longer. Yep, money has a lot to do with it! I am so blessed to have had my past and knew what worked before I was part of this unnecessary pain!
 
And unless we find a site like Bonesmart we are we are pulled into the thought that PT is so important, because it’s all we know these days.

Somewhere, a while ago, I read a post here that someone had gone to PT for a shoulder issue and stopped because it was so aggressive. That person then did some of what she’d learned at PT, at home and at her pace. So it’s not just TKR rehab that can get aggressive.

I will say, that back in 2011, I went to PT for lower back pain. I went 3x a week for 4 weeks. The things they gave me to do were mostly stretches, they did not hurt, and did seem to help. So I guess PT can be useful.

Looking back, I was going to Weight Watchers at that time and was close to a 20 pound loss. I have wondered if the weight loss had more of an effect than the PT. Or just the combination.
 
I’ll be devil’s advocate here and give PT its props. A really wonderful therapist rehabilitated my frozen shoulder a while back using only exercises. I went from very little function (couldn’t reach above my chest, out to the side, or behind my back at all) to having full function of my left shoulder. True, she told me what exercises to do, and I did them, but she knew her stuff. She told me what she was doing and why. I respect that.

The difference I see is my shoulder was intact. Dysfunctional, but not operated on. There was no soft tissue damage trying to heal itself while I built up this muscle group, then that muscle group, restoring balance to get that part of my musculoskeletal system working properly again. I have a hard time understanding why physical therapists would think they can rehab a freshly operated, desperately trying to heal knee the same way they would weakness or stiffness in a non-injured leg.

Back in the 70s and 80s, my cardiologist first husband frowned on the mad rush to expand PT departments. He said hospitals were doing it to make money, not because expansion would help patients more than existing facilities. Then came the outpatient PT corporations in the 90s and 2000s. And here we are today, sitting atop a $30B industry.

When so much of the population believes that they can exercise themselves enough to attain youthful health, there’s money to be made. However, that same emphasis leads to some dicey rehab practices.
 
Good points! I’m so tainted against PT from the knee replacement stand point, that I seriously would like to know when PT is a good thing. Like I said, I had a good experience when I went for my back. There was nothing aggressive there.

I also had a friend hurt her back last year and she was very quick to praise her PT experience, she did what they said and it fixed her problem! (She went to a different group than the ones I went to. Mine were 2 different groups, in 2 different states)

And if I’d found one of those really good ones after my PKR I would probably feel differently also.
 
SusieShoes said:
I’ll be devil’s advocate here and give PT its props. A really wonderful therapist rehabilitated my frozen shoulder a while back using only exercises. I went from very little function (couldn’t reach above my chest, out to the side, or behind my back at all) to having full function of my left shoulder. True, she told me what exercises to do, and I did them, but she knew her stuff. She told me what she was doing and why. I respect that.
The difference I see is my shoulder was intact. Dysfunctional, but not operated on. There was no soft tissue damage trying to heal itself while I built up this muscle group, then that muscle group, restoring balance to get that part of my musculoskeletal system working properly again. I have a hard time understanding why physical therapists would think they can rehab a freshly operated, desperately trying to heal knee the same way they would weakness or stiffness in a non-injured leg.
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I completely agree that a good PT therapist is worth having. In fact, if you find one, hang on to her/him, because those therapists are like gold dust.

I simply can't see any logic in overworking a newly-wounded knee that is traumatized, not lazy. Doing that causes more harm than good.

I think the most important thing is to realise that you are in charge of the way your knee is treated, not the PT therapist.

There's no doubt that PT is a big money-making business. When our government here in NZ cut back the amount of payment they would contribute to PT as post-accident therapy, several fairly new PT establishments shut down. Surprisingly (or perhaps not) there has been no decrease in successful post-accident recoveries.
 
I was one of the lucky ones who landed into a good PT clinic - and have had 2 "golden" PT's in this recovery. They, like BoneSmart, told me to ditch almost all of the exercises that I was given in my pre-surgery class and by the hospital PTs. They never tried to bend (or straighten) my knee or be aggressive with me. They were always supportive, answered all sorts of questions, and never pushed me to do something I was not ready for, and hardly ever measured. They really only worked on balance, gait, correct functional movements, and, after several months, strengthening the supporting muscle groups. I did not know what to look for in a PT clinic ahead of the surgery so was very fortunate that I chose this one - it is one of about four or five in my small town.
 
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So, two weeks ago yesterday I had that great 7 month check up that went so well and ever since I’ve been flying high with confidence.....until today.

My knee is being uncooperative, it kind of hurts today, and I’m not walking as well as I was and I’m sick of it.

The weather is a bit too chilly to wear shorts if I go out, so I’ve worn capris a few times and my knee throws a fit because there’s fabric near it. They aren’t even tight capris, one pair is soft knit and rather loose. The quilt at night doesn’t bother it any more, but these barely knee length capris sure do!

I’m having such a pity party today that I wish I had my old knee back. I had some pain then, but I now have many more limitations in recovery than I had before surgery and never dreamed at 7.5 months I would still be feeling like this.

I know it will get better, it just needs more time, but I am so annoyed with this recovery today.
 
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Oh @Jockette! :console2: :hugzz:
You may need to de-sensitize your scar. Start off by brushing it gently with soft fabric and gradually increase both the pressure of the touch and the coarseness of the cloth. There's still time for this to improve.
 
Oh @Jockette, you've been doing so well. Capris bottoms hitting me on my incision hurt for quite a while. I found it I pulled them up above the scar, it felt so much better.
 
Weather will make knees act up. Both of mine acted up this past weekend when we had storms and rain. Sometimes they don’t do this. When they do, though, it’s a sore knee day.

I might know why capris bother your incision. I wore capris a lot this summer while healing, and I could feel them move against my incisions. One pair, especially, because it was shorter than the others and the hem, which was thicker and had stitching, rubbed a bit. Your quilt at night probably doesn’t move around so much. :wink: Do try the desensitizing actions. I did mine in the shower, using a loofah. Lightly. It helps.

Sorry to hear you’re getting down about your recovery. I know it’s not what you were expecting. It’s perfectly okay to be annoyed about it, and unhappy, and even throw things if it makes you feel better. I hope you feel better about your knees in a day or two, or sooner if your knees cooperate!
 
Thank you all for shouldering my tantrum! Some days it is just so hard to know it’s been over 7 months and this is as good as I feel, while I watch my friend who had his TKR in July do things and sit and bend his knee just fine. He just had his second knee done last week.

I will try to desensitize my incision. I was trying to be patient and just wait it out. I really don’t like even touching it, the knee is tender if I do, just very lightly putting moisturizer on it is uncomfortable. Not just the incision but the knee beneath. And I only do that occasionally because at my 2 week check my surgeon told me to (I hadn’t found Bonesmart yet) and I spent the money on the cream, so I’m using it. I should just use it for my hands, my scar is not dry.

It’s interesting that I wore these same capris early on, to PT, and it felt better back then than it does now. But I’ve been in shorts since last spring so it got used to nothing touching it.

I didn’t even bowl well on Monday, my knee hurt then. I bowled a 79. Pitiful! I never had this many gutter balls before surgery.

Susie, we were on the southern side of that storm on Sunday. My knee was fine that day. Monday I got up and all was as normal as usual, then all of a sudden about 11am is when the knee felt like it does if weather bothers it and it was like it had just realized it forgot to react the day before, so it made up for lost time. I kept telling it that it was fine but it wouldn’t listen.

Thanks again to all of you, I seriously don’t know how I’d have gotten through this recovery without you!:) :-) (:
 
That storm was a drencher, and my knees really didn't like it. I never had joints that knew or cared what the weather was, until the replacements. And now, like I said, sometimes they get sore and sometimes they don't, but the weather is the only explanation I have for when it happens. And always gone the next day, so that's not too bad.

Maybe your knees are the kind that don't predict the weather, but just like to remind you it happened. :heehee:

I hope your incision becomes less sensitive soon. Winter isn't going to let it escape being touched.
 
I agree about the weather, sometimes it affects my knees and sometimes it doesn’t. Never had that issue before surgery.

It doesn’t seem to be the incision that doesn’t like pants/capris, it’s more like the joint feels much more swollen and wooden (that Pinocchio feeling again!)

It feels that way in water, too, both the pool and the shower, even still. Ugh, I don’t like it.

PKR ads said, “because two of the knee compartments are still your natural ones, your replacement will feel more natural.” Not so!:blackcloud:
 
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I think I would have believed those ads, too. I’d think, well at least I have most of my knee still, so that makes sense. Having been at BoneSmart for a year now, reading lots of recovery stories, I’ve learned to be skeptical about those claims. One thing for sure is that PKRs can, and usually do, take as long to heal as TKRs.

I’m sorry your recovery is taking longer than you thought, but you are getting to where you need and want to be, I hope.
 
Oh, Jockette. I can't offer any advice, only some wishes that your knee starts cooperating again. I have heard that cold weather will cause joint symptoms to pop up. We are having our coolest weather so far - high 40s at night and high 60s during the day so I have not experienced the change in the weather. I'm glad SusieShoes and Celle could off some suggestions.
 
I too didn't have knees that reacted to the weather the way this bionic one does. And I'm so not used to it that I may make a comment to someone when they ask about the knee and when they reply, well,
do you think this rain has something to do with it.... ding ding ding!

I'm sorry you're having some down days with that knee right now. I agree with you - I would have believed the ads as well. Just like yesterday, someone told me, don't let anyone tell you you'll be fine in 6 months because it takes a good year. At my pace, I may surpass a year, but just so long as I get painfree at some point. :)
We have to dig deep on this marathon and we will get there. And as we've learned from BS, a partial has basically the same recovery as a total. :(

When I returned to PT with the patella tendinitis, the gal said - you are super hypersensitive there and shouldn't be - it was the lower section of my incision. She attacked some scar tissue that she felt may have been affecting the tendon and its much better - stinging and burning is gone. But I agree about the desensitizing- starting slow. Maybe you're sore due to just stepping differently while bowling? When I mention something to my chiropractor or PT about feeling like a bruised bone - they say it's inflammation. Just something to think about.

Hoping tomorrow you wake up feeling a bit better.
 
@sistersinhim Did you get your surgical report right after you signed for the request, or did they mail it to you? I think I’d like to read mine. My son in law is a pathologist, he would understand it better than me.
 
It was mailed to me from their main office. I go to one that's closer to home. If they store them at your office, you might be able to get it the same day.
 
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