TKR My new knee<

Thanks! It just pains me to hear about people being bullied into possibly hurting themselves by over-enthusiastic PTs or doctors. Sometimes you have to be your own advocate and say NO, that doesn't work for me!
 
Hi Homeport....you are a week ahead of me☺ Easy does it is the way to go every time. Please just say NO to over zealous PTs or Drs. It is your body, and assuming you want to get up and go again (yes we all want this), we all do what you can to get there. Yes it is a challenge. But if you've faced the surgery you can do the recovery. Keep moving...does not have to be a lot...a little walk outside is great. I do this every day. Take care of you, Maggie x
 
Hi all, been following new advice and took a rest for a few days. I felt a lot better with great advice from you all. I have now started exercises as advised but knee feels tight and swelling seems to be going up and down from 40cm to 43cm around knee. I ice every 2hrs from between 40mins to an hour at a time. I am not sore or in pain at all. I am getting anxious as feel I am not getting anywhere but keep remembering it can take 3 months to a year to fully recover. Do you think I may be over anxious?

abbie1
 
@abbie1 - I am 2 weeks behind you. Still have lots of stiffness and some swelling if I overdo. It's frustrating, to be sure, but not much I can do about it, except the usual: ice and elevate when I need to. You're right - my research jibes with what I learned here on Bonesmart: it can take up to a year to fully recover.
The stiffness is causing me to have to use my cane whenever I go out. When sitting around the house or doing exercises, my ROM is pretty good but when it comes to walking in a normal gait, my knee is resisting. Need to go back to work in 3 weeks but all I can do is hope for the best, right? :)
 
very frustrating when you have been active all your life but just try and have pma and keep going
 
took a rest for a few days
I think the suggestion was that you took at least 2 weeks off!
I ice every 2hrs from between 40mins to an hour at a time.
And what about elevating and resting?
I am getting anxious as feel I am not getting anywhere
These improvements don't happen overnight. Stop obsessing about them!
have now started exercises as advised but knee feels tight and swelling seems to be going up and down from 40cm to 43cm around knee.
Then you are doing far too much.

So tell me again what you are doing: remember? What kind of PT exercises and exercises at home are you doing? How much and how often? (and detailed details would be appreciated, please! **Reps, sets and sessions** and all that)

** If you're not familiar with this, it goes like so:
1 lift of your leg = 1 rep (repetition)
5 reps and then a brief rest = 1 set
5 sets and finishing = 1 session.
 
I am getting anxious as feel I am not getting anywhere but keep remembering it can take 3 months to a year to fully recover.
you are going to hit plateaus---you will have ups, downs, and some times where you knee just seems to tread water.

Recovery is not linear---it is not all up all of the time---there are some down times, and then there are some times where you just hang in there. Recovery looks more like this:
ai1195.photobucket.com_albums_aa394_referee54_stockmarketchart_zpsa89f1813.jpg


If you expect progress all of the time, you are setting yourself up for frustration and disappointment. You have to understand that the length of this recovery demands that you be patient---you cannot rush your recovery, but you will get to the destination of being fully recovered.
Do you think I may be over anxious?
Yes, I do---you have to take it easy and fight the urge to work hard.

very frustrating when you have been active all your life but just try and have pma and keep going
I still am very active---but I used to ref college basketball for 17 years---I reffed HS and college football, too. I cycle 120-160 miles a week, and I still umpire HS and college baseball.

I was very active, and I still am---and you will be, too. But you have to understand that, if you want to regain your active lifestyle, now is the time to back off from it and relax.
 
Hi @abbie1 My recovery has been about as good as it gets ..never any real pain after leaving hospital and back to almost normal activities within a month....I was a PT maniac before the surgery and that was really painful....however I found that my recovery really accelerated once I cut WAY back on the PT and I mean to almost none other than little lifts and toe pointing in my recliner...iced all the time..and was so happy that I could walk without pain I used that as my exercise... You are not giving yourself anytime to heal by pushing yourself..it seems like you are opening the wounds everyday....how about not doing anything but walking for a week and see how you feel...your ROM will likely improve...I am sitting on a chair now having coffee and while typing this I am sliding my heels under the chair.....you are getting a constant theme from everyone here to cut back to almost nothing for awhile......give it a shot.

Vinny
 
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It is interesting to note that almost all of us have been taught that a strong work ethic will help us to overcome adversity and move us on successfully.

I remember starting a summer job in college, and my father told me to "Give them ten hours of work in an eight-hour day."

That is not true at all in a TKR recovery---it is not about working hard---that will not help one move on---in fact, working harder will cause more inflammation, more swelling, and more pain and stiffness---which leads to more frustration.

If one is not careful, then a vicious cycle begins, as one tends to work even harder--"I am not getting the results that I anticipated---I must not be working hard enough." Then, by working even harder, the leg swells, stiffens up, becomes more inflamed and more painful---and we begin to wonder why.

By backing off of the hard work and allowing the knee to become "less angry", we allow the knee's swelling and inflammation to calm down and to subside.

It is contrary to what we were taught, but it is very, very true.

Please read this article:
Lose the Work Ethic!
 
I've been elevating my knee on three pillows and putting ice on every two hours for between 40-60 mins while elevating doing moderate exercise now - stair lunges 10 reps -skate board -5 fast 5 slow - reps knee press 5 reps knee bend with towel all twice a day rest every other day do 10 min walk every day, well what a difference a few days make not as stiff and feeling really good and positive -patience is a virtue
 
patience is a virtue
Yes---you cannot rush this recovery, regardless of how much you want to. If you try to speed things up, you will get nowhere, fast--take it slowly, and you will get somewhere, albeit slowly and in tiny increments.
ai1195.photobucket.com_albums_aa394_referee54_kungfu.jpg

Patience, Grasshopper, Patience!!
 
My comment in bold
stair lunges 10 reps - don't do lunges, they stress the knee too much
skate board 5 fast 5 slow - don't do fast ones
knee press 5 reps knee - you mean like a press in a gym? You shouldn't use that. Very knee unfriendly!
bend with towel all twice a day - you don't need these either.
10min walk every day - that's good!
rest every other day - excellent!

One thing I observe from this routine - you have four exercises all focused on bending your knee. This is excessive and unnecessary. You only need to do one - heel slides, nothing more. Read this Heel slides and how to do them.
 
I clunk first thing in the morning...no pain it is completely normal and often goes away so I'm told...if painful have it checked. ...nothing like the pain when clicking ,cracking and crunching before surgery.

Vinny
 
knee replacement 20th Feb. still quite painful big concern is that it clicks as I walk. Is this normal?



Wow I had clicking and Pop. They said not normal for me. But don't know your circumstance. I had a partial at first. But don't want to tell u anything wrong. Good luck.



FaithMitchMommy
PKR Dec 1 2014
TKRev MAR 2 2015

Sent from my iPhone using BoneSmart Forum
 
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I also am starting to realize what gives me the better result. Or at least the best feeling. In this rehab center i could go all day without an icepack. Icing &elevation are important. I am not a nurse but this much i learned from this patient forum. It makes me so upset when i can feel &see the swelling happening & nobody here seems to check on it. So, I ask for my gelpak whenever i want it. I feel good & i think that most of the discomfort is from the swelling & bruising on the underside.today is the first day i can say that the swelling has gone down. Going home on friday yippie.
 
I am sorry to read of the rehab center's lack of attention to your needs of icing and elevating---but you are doing the correct thing and being pro-active!

Keep icing and elevating---and congratulations on your return home on Friday---you will feel so much better!
 
Wow I had clicking and Pop. They said not normal. Good luck.



FaithMitchMommy
PKR Dec 1 2014
TKRev MAR 2 2015

Sent from my iPhone using BoneSmart Forum

Angel, it is quite normal, after a TKR, for a patient to report, clicking, thunking, or other sounds like this---as the entire knee joint is plastic and metal---there is no more soft tissue in the knee joint. Since I had a BTKR, many of my own students could hear both of my knees make a thunking or clunking/clicking sound "in stereo."

Many folks, after surgery, report this and are concerned about it, but it is all quite normal and will subside in time, as the muscles gain strength and muscle mass---and, perhaps we become de-sensitized to it.
 
My knee clunks a lot as well and I've also been told by all sources that it's normal and will probably lessen in time. Feels weird, though, doesn't it? :)

@jfiori54 - Good for you! We must be our own advocates when it comes to our health! On another thread here, I mentioned that I stopped going to my PT facility because they were inflexible - they seemed more interested in following a set agenda than actually helping me as an individual, so I said, bye-bye! Honestly, I am not a "difficult" patient; its just that as intelligent adults, we often know instinctively what feels right - and what doesn't!
 

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