Knee Infection* My Mum’s infection

I wore one twice for at 6 weeks and walked straight-legged.
 
They like to get everyone up and walking as soon as possible. therapists are usually really good about making sure you don’t over do it.
Yesterday and today I walked -only as far as I could and then turned around. I don’t have an immobilizer but walking is good for us after knee surgery and helps with circulation too.
 
Because I wore an immbolizer (Velcro with Metal rods) for a month I did walk with it on. I walked on day 2 because the catheter was pulled on day 2, then on day 3 a pt came to the room and took me for a short walk. Your mum won’t have a natural gait right now, but she should be ok using a walker or cane to get around the house and someone should be with her in the beginning when she walks. As sistersinhim said, I walked with a straight leg.
 
Thanks, she is still in hospital so the physiotherapists will come today and help her to start walking. The Occupational therapist came yesterday to our house and they say she would benefit from a hospital style bed. Sounds a good idea so long as they help us to clear the spare bedroom for it! My father is terrible at hoarding stuff!
 
Hi everyone, just a quick update. She had swabs taken when she had the washouts and the great news is they showed no Infection! So that’s the best news.

However, she still has to wear the immobiliser as her leg has been oozing a bit, the surgeon says it’s just the skin. She has been doing really well in physio, and looking forward to going home. However, this is delayed because the OT wants her to have a hospital bed and possibly a recliner, and despite us having had a major clearout, there just isn’t much room. She however just wants to get back to normal and use her normal bed and chair! I suppose she is allowed to refuse if she feels able? And what can she do to help the skin stop oozing?
 
I will @Josephine for you. She should be able to give you some guidance.
Thank you! I spoke to Mum yesterday and she is adamant she doesn’t want a downstairs bed or commode, and that she can bend the knee sufficiently to sit on a chair, which means she should be able to use the stairlift and get into the bathroom. She still has to wear the immobiliser for one more week because of the oozing, so I don’t know if she is achieving a full 90 degree bend or not, but she does sit forward to eat and it appears to be in the right position. @Josephine did you find you could bend it enough to sit on a normal chair when the immobiliser came off, or if not how long did that take? She needs a 90 degrees bend for the stairlift and bathroom access. Many Thanks xx
 
@Josephine did you find you could bend it enough to sit on a normal chair when the immobiliser came off, or if not how long did that take?
That's an odd question, mumshelp, as I had neither a problem with ROM nor an immobiliser so I really can't offer you any comments about that.
 
Oops, sorry @Josephine I intended to tag @KarriB as I know she did have an immobiliser. Mum doesn’t seem to have any ROM problems though, she says it feels better than it did before the op and she is doing very well in physio despite the immobiliser. But I just wondered if @KarriB found the immobiliser affected her ROM?
 
My immobilizer had metal rods that kept me from bending too much. There were days that I noticed the rods were bent, but the purpose was to keep me from overly using the knee and to let everything heal, so just bending to get in/out of the car or use steps was acceptable. I was able to do stairs, but my RTKR was pretty straight and I lifted from the hip. I recovered in a chair with an ottoman, my leg was rarely down with my foot on the floor because it just wasn’t comfortable (although not much was comfortable) . I too kept my immbolizer on until the oozing/seeping stopped at around the one month mark.

After the immbolizer came off my OS still wanted me to proceed gently. I didn’t go cold turkey without the immbolizer because my leg felt very weak without it for support, so I gradually stopped using it over a week and a half. Then my OS ordered non-aggressive PT which was some stretches and heel slides without a pulling tool. He demonstrated what he wanted by sliding my foot about 2-3 inches, so that was all I did for a week. My knee was stiff, but eventually it did bend. An exercise bike was vital for my flexion. It took about 2 weeks of rocking the pedals back/forth before a full rotation, but after that I was on a bike for a few minutes every other day at 0 tension.

My OS originally said he’d be happy with a flexion of 90, but I’m well past that at 120-125. My RTKR has better ROM than my left!
 
I had an immobilizer on each leg for 6-8 weeks. Once off, my ROM came in all by itself. It wasn't overnight, but it was in only a few weeks. Your mom will be fine.
 

BoneSmart #1 Best Blog

Staff online

  • Jaycey
    ADMINISTRATOR Staff member since February 2011

Forum statistics

Threads
65,181
Messages
1,597,076
BoneSmarties
39,365
Latest member
Dave4562
Recent bookmarks
0
Back
Top Bottom