PKR My Drama Queen Patellofemoral Knee

[MyTest]

@sistersinhim

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.

Funny, I was just telling my friend this week that alot of doctors are going under 1 umbrella/office now. If you need a referral they only send you to doctors/etc. under their umbrella. Lets be honest, it ensures the $$ remains with them. To your point, the PT I go to now is attached to the Dr that did my surgery AND the dr. is one of the owners of the hospital my surgery was at.

But I also agree with @SusieShoes the right PT can be very helpful and is sometimes needed.

 

[sistersinhim]

You are so right. The right PT can be a huge help. It's the bad ones that everybody needs to get away from. Especially those that believe in aggressive PT right after this surgery. That's when the harm is done.

 

[Jockette]

Shopped for quite a while today, my whole leg was tired and a bit achy, but it didn’t scream at me. I call it a success! My walking speed has picked up. As I walked across the parking lot I thought to myself, look at me walking like a normal person!

 

[MyTest]

Isn't it nice when you have good days like that @Jockette

 

[Jockette]

Yes, @My Test, it certainly is!

 

[Polkadot]

You don't ever want to be too "normal," @Jockette~! So glad you had a good shopping experience, though!

 

[kmak81230]

Yeah for you to see some improvement in your ability to tolerate "normal" activities and to have those moments where it actually seems like our knee will feel normal again.

 

[Jockette]

Well, it is official, this morning proves I overdid the shopping yesterday.

The good news? It’s not so much the knee, but the general muscles in both legs.

Maybe I actually will come through this ok!

 

[Jockette]

@Celle I just read about your spacer breaking! Wow, 3 months is so long to wait for surgery to fix it. Why didn’t they do it sooner?

 

[Polkadot]

@Jockette, I'm at a similar place regarding overdoing it. More general malaise and less specific knee pain/discomfort. I guess that's progress?!?

 

[kmak81230]

I think we are at the place where the knee has less pain/discomfort and yet our surrounding muscle groups are not very strong, which also contributes to the tiredness and soreness.

 

[Celle]

3 months is so long to wait for surgery to fix it. Why didn’t they do it sooner?

Part of that was because we had to re-work our travel plans and re-book flights, so I could get back home to NZ from Canada. Then, my OS had retired and I had to find a new OS who was skilled at doing revisions. He had to contact the manufactures of my PKR, to see if a replacement spacer was available - and it wasn't, so he had to order TKR hardware that would be suitable, then fit me into his operating schedule.
At some point during those 3 months, I also added a week, because I went to Australia, to keep my promise to attend my niece's wedding.

One good thing was that, by the time I had my revision, I had already grown pretty skilled at using crutches. No one had to show me how to use them post-op!

It's all over now, and my revision TKR is almost 6 years old. It's so good that I usually forget I have it.

 

[Jockette]

Wow, but glad all is well now. I guess we can handle more than we think we can.

 

[Jockette]

I have noticed that when I bend forward, for example, to load or unload the dishwasher, that position really irritates my knee. I’m only bending a few seconds at a time, but repeatedly. Is this par for the course? I don’t remember feeling this earlier, and don’t remember when it started.

And, carrying heavier things, like a laundry basket full of clothes (which isn’t all that heavy compared to other things) still bothers my knee.

 

[SusieShoes]

I remember that early on, in the first several weeks, my knees disliked me bending forward. A kind of strange pressure under the kneecap feeling, and also stretchy behind the knee, which I understood to be the hamstrings. I chalked it up to swelling in the front of my knees, but really don’t know for sure what it was. It went away after a while, as my knees swelled less. I have no idea why yours might be feeling it now.

Carrying heavier things bothers mine also, especially on stairs.

 

[Jockette]

I feel it in the front only.

Just a cranky drama queen I suppose. I’m doing well in other areas so the knee is saying, ha, you think you feel better? Not yet!!

 

[jaschembra]

I agree - Carrying heavy items isn’t good at all and I tend to avoid it if I can and/or I lift more with my abs and back and I know that’s not good. I do know, if I have to feed horses, I break open the bale of hay and put it in the wheelbarrow in chunks versus a bale at a time like I used to.

The muscles behind my knee and above/below in the back of the leg are still sore, but I contribute that to daily exercise to help my extension.

 

[kneeper]

The knee will be temperamental for quite a while and you never know exactly what will be on its "no-no" list.

 

[Celle]

I have noticed that when I bend forward, for example, to load or unload the dishwasher, that position really irritates my knee. I’m only bending a few seconds at a time, but repeatedly. Is this par for the course?

I don't know about other people, but I experienced something similar.

We have a two-drawer dishwasher and for a long time after my TKRs I found it quite hard to use the bottom drawer. I used the top drawer almost exclusively for about 4 months and had to run the bottom drawer empty about once a week, so it didn't dry out and seize up.

 

[Jockette]

I just did a small sewing project (that did not go well) I was up and down from the chair at my machine, the seat of the chair is too high, but as low as it will go, I was also standing a bit, and my knee is very unhappy. I know better than to ask this, but shouldn’t my knee be better enough to handle this at 8 months?

I sewed yesterday, too. Also a lot of walking back and forth from my sewing room to my bedroom, (ADL’s) where the chair is that I am making a cover for. My knee was quite upset last night.