TKR My TKR in 10 days/ Coronavirus. Am very nervous

[sistersinhim]

Physical Theraphy is critical for the success of the surgery, please listen your sixth sense, and follow Your instinct.

I beg to differ with you. I have had knee surgeries since the early 80s, 11 of them before my trk. Many of us never took formal PT or did exercises. I am one of them. I had 12 knee surgeries, 2 of them kneecap removals and 1 tkr. Even after those I never took formal PT. But, I didn't just sit around and do nothing. I used my knee as it was intended to be used by walking around to take care of my daily needs. As I healed I was able to do more. Icing and elevation was a huge part of my recovery.

Listen to your knee. It will tell you if you're doing too much by increased pain and swelling. When that happened to me, I found that resting, icing and elevating helped. Your knee knows how to rehab itself without being told what to do.

Formal PT is so unnecessary. Our bodies are remarkable and heal and recover quite well all by themselves. Use your knee, but don't do silly exercises that are unnatural.

 

[Jockette]

Your knee knows how to rehab itself without being told what to do.

I call the movements our knees gets in the regular activities we do throughout the day “natural PT.” It all counts as movement. It also makes us do those movements in a timely manner. Formal PT sessions can take those same movements and give us too many reps in a row, which can upset a new healing knee.

The main thing in this recovery/rehab is give the joint mobility. Don’t lay in bed all day, or sit in your recliner all day. There should be a balance of rest and gentle activities so our knee can heal. As it heals we are able to do more activities. It comes along naturally.

 

[Tkdbob]

Maplemarm: I discussed my cancelled surgery for knee replacements with my surgeons scheduler and she said they are canceling post op appointments. I would call your surgeons office and ask if there is any concern about skipping the appointment. They will probably tell you if you are not experiencing an unusual amount of uncontrollable pain and the wound looks ok then don’t come in. You’ll be ok relax and don’t take on any additional stress. Also, you know the PT plan so if you have the self discipline then you should be able to continue on your own. There are a ton of videos you can watch to keep you on track as you heal. Just my two cents.

 

[LD of Michigan]

Well yes, with the Cononavirus factor and concern now I'd do my PT at home if I were just out of TKR. Most gyms have closed for now.

There are several knee exercise/ PTs on youtube that don't require heroic equipment or techniques. Mostly stuff you can do in bed!

 

[Maplemarm]

Thank you all very much for your help. I spoke with my in-home therapist yesterday and she said my request that she not come again made sense to her, as did not going to out-patient PT. She gave me more exercises to do at home, and assured me that I would be fine if I could discipline myself to do them and walked regularly. What you say about ADL makes good sense too. I haven‘t yet called my surgeon’s office to ask about my post-op appointment, but will do that tomorrow. Thank you all again!