Become an Insider

TKR Need better ROM, please advise.

Status
Not open for further replies.
Hi Everyone,​
It's been 5 months since my surgery and I'd like to share a few thoughts with you.​
It has been a long five months and its also been one learning experience. I had never been hospitalized in my life and had never experienced the level of pain that goes along with a knee replacement and the therapy that goes along with it, especially when you have an aggressive OS and PT. It was painful, I was obeying my OS and PT, which were all about ROM at whatever cost but then I came to Bonesmart and learned that aggressive treatment can only make matters worse. My knee swelled up and that made it very hard to get any ROM, until I started elevating, icing, resting the knee and doing several exercises recommended by other members here. ROM came a lot easier after I was nice to my knee. I'm now at 108 ROM!!! All the time they were abusing me I didn't go past 92-95 ROM. They coudn't understand that an abused knee wouldn't bend, just swell up. Both my OS and my PT stopped rushing me into aggressive treatment once they saw results from the "no pain, more gain" approach I learned here.​
​
I'm not using the elevator at work, Im using the stairs now and it feels good with each step. It really does! I can put on my socks and shoes without pain, can drive up to 45 minutes without discomfort on my knee and went from part-time to full time at work last month. The exercises have made me stronger and I don't feel as tired. There are days when my knee feels a little heavy but I know this is normal. My sweeling is almost gone completely. My OS said he wants to see me in two months. Good! He's been so negative I wouldn't mind waiting longer than that before the next visit! My PT visits ended last month. Now Im doing exercises I learned from the Bonesmart library - there are many, and they're great!​
​
​
I will continue the exercises and walk as much as possible, get back my stamina and think positive - I can "slow dance" now :yes: and the rest will come sooner than later. Amazing how my mentality changed from feeling sorry for myself to feeling that I will be running after my 2-yr-old grandaughter in another two months. Each day now brings new gains. I guess things get a lot better after 5 months.​
​
​
I found a heating pad which was missing for over a year, when we moved and I wanted to know when to use it. I have been icing but I've heard some folks say that it's best to use a heating pad on the knee before exercising it and then ice it after the exercise. Please advise.​
​
Take care everyone and hang in there. It's worth thewait!​
​
Al​
​
 
Al, what a great story, I am so happy for you!!:dancy: I think that it would be reasonable to try heat on your knee and see how it feels. I personally don't like heat, but then, I am a winter person and don't like being hot!! Try it and see, we recommend ice in the beginning because it helps to reduce the swelling---but, at five months, you can experiment a little and see what works for you. K
 
Please tell me when you first went back to work the first time was at 3 months?
Then how long did you work part time? So you returned to full time employment at how many months?
Thanks so much for sharing your story! It helps.
 
Thanks Skigirl for your advise, I will certainly try the heat. I see in your signature that you had both knees done. I think one knee is bad enough. You have my respect.

Brownie, I went back to work at 2 months, full time. I did it because I felt I was starting to feel good and my swelling was going down fast. I was told not to go full time but I didnt listen so my knee started swelling up and hurting twice as much. I then went part time for a month and iced my knee three times a day for 30 min each time. So I went full time again at 4 months and it felt a lot better.

If you need to ho back to work please make sure you dont go full time. It will backfire. You need to start easy then increase your hours gradually. Listen to your knee. Our jobs demand a lot from us and some of us put pressure on ourselves to get back to work sooner so things dont pile up on us. Just think that an early return could be counter productive and could cause you to miss more time.

Take care of yourself first.

Al
 
Hi Al nice to hear from you, glad things have continued to go well for you, now that you have been following the bonesmart mantra. real thrilled you can use the stairs now with no problems. And you have many many more months to continue to improve and heal, and see a lot more achievements, it just keeps getting better, and better:thumb:.
When its eventually my turn, i will definatley be looking to bonesmart for support.
 
I'm so glad you checked in with your good news and your testimony to the benefits of the "less is more" approach. I am told muscles are like rubber bands: the more they contract, the more they stretch. So as you continue, you should to continual gains in ROM. The orthos more or less aim for 120 and it sounds as if you'll be there in a month or two, running after the grandkids!! Congrats.
 
Hi everyone!
It's been just over a month since the last time I posted so here's my latest update.
Although I'm very slowly getting my ROM (I'm at 110 in 6 months) I can go up the stairs with no problem. Going down is a little more challenging and I wonder why - I would think you're not pushing yourself as when you're climbing up the stairs.
But overall I'm feeling a lot less pain, unless I overdo my exercises, which I make sure I don't.

Is 110 ROM at 6months post surgery ok? I have an appointment with my surgeon on 12/20/12 and I'm sure he will tell me I'm still his only patient with record low ROM, as he did the last time.
I'm done with physical therapy since last month as I reached my limit, per my health benefit provider. I do the exercises I learned from my PT and the Bonesmart library.

I've noticed that some days I feel like I could start running, yet today the knee felt less willing to bend as much as I usually bend it. Then there have been two occasions when I didn't do any exercise at all for the day then the next day the knee felt better than ever. It's as if the knee rewarded me for giving it some rest.

People at work are telling me that I'm walking without a limp. They also told me that I'm walking a lot faster than before. I like to hear that. Just need more practice going down the stairs and getting more ROM.

Take care everyone, happy holidays to all.

Al
 
You have made considerable improvements since your post in August (70 degrees).

Keep it up... Oh, BTW going down stairs is usually more challenging than going up stairs. That's typical.

Orthodoc
 
Al, what a great outcome! You brought amazing persistence to the game. Congratulations!
 
hey Al good to hear from you, glad u are making slow but sure progress. i too have more difficult time going down stairs,and my ROM is actually very well for being a non tkr'er at the moment. i am hypermobilel, and have always had great ROM, hopefully that will be to my advantage when its my turn around the tkr merry go round, I m gonna choose bi-lats,and wait til im around 50ish, as im almost 44 now, just too much going on health wise, family wise now to proceed right now, unless God himself intervenes and says your getting them now!! He has a funny way of doing that you know. I feel with more weight loss, and muscle behind me and being an empty nester by then will be to my advantage, I hope!! I have waited this long since 12 years old, what another 7-9 years??? Plus I am almost small enough to fit in my braces now,should help quite a bit i think. of course the more i lose the smaller the braces r going to have to be!!
Back to you, you are only 6 months into this whole recovery you know it can take a year or more to regain more ROM, so You have plenty of time to go to gain much more ROM, and as long as your comfortable, and do what you need to do, #'s don't really matter any way, except those pesky stairs, will come in time.( I have great #'s( w/stupid PT thinks its all about u must be fine your #$'s say so!???, and what good are my great #'s doing for me now!!??) Jersey Chick (sorry not know how to tag) but she has like 110 ROM, and can do anything she wants with that ROM. So if she can do it, so can you, and you still got time yet on your side at least 18 more months to be on safe side to gain more, but if you don't as long as can do what u want, you should be fine. And I am sure you will win the fight over the pesky downstairs soon enough.
Good luck and take care...Sheryl:flwrysmile:
 
Al, 110 will, without any effort, evolve into 111, then 112, and in a few months you might find yourself at 120. Remember that you are behind schedule because of the delay caused by adhesions.

I think it's unfortunate your OS says you have record low numbers. I think it's his ego speaking. A doctor should refer to other patient stories as a way of encouraging you or putting your situation in perspective. My ortho refers to his two other patients with arthrofibrosis who are not doing as well as I am, and we live in a rural area so he isn't doing a lot of knees. When he refers to those poor other souls, I feel lucky. So if you live in a denser area it's likely your surgeon has or has had other arthrofibrosis patients. Maybe they moved on, who knows. But you have everything to be proud of. The main cure, now, is time.
 
Hi-
I had my knee done approx 10 months ago and I think that , after the first few months of pretty measurable gains, I have actually gotten an even faster and better increased ROM every month for the past 3 months. I don't know if it ever actually stops getting better if you keep moving and exercising. I do know that , when my PT was too aggressive those first few months, I had less progress than I have had without the PT. I think we know how far to push our knees, we are the ones who are feeling the pain. Just my 2 cents.
 
Hi Al, I remember my first time going up stairs. I got to the top and turned around and thought this might not have been a good idea. Back in the 80's it was a real challenge to obtain 100deg of flexion. We would work to get patients past 70deg so they would be able to up stairs. With the advancements in TKR procedures and performing the operation on younger people, we have been able to obtain greater ROM values. Going down stairs is a good activity to help increase the ROM of your knee. We have our patients in clinic start at a 5inch step, progress to an 8inch step then for a few we go to a 12 inch step.
Do not feel you are the worse patient ever because you are at 110deg. There is not a window of opportunity for completion. You should continue to obtain motion over the next 6 months.
No worries,
David
 
Orthodoc, Momba, Sheryl, Maryo, Two New, David....Thanks for your comments and advise.
This is what makes Bonesmart such a special place. People helping people. We have all been thru the surgery so who else can give the best advise?
It's funny how we wish we could soon do the things that we took for granted, like going downstairs. I go up the stairs three times a day at work without any pain, in fact I like it. When going downstairs I have to really hold on to the rail and go very slowly as it's uncomfortable. A co-worker recommended I go downstairs backwards. She says it wont hurt as it would feel the same as going up. I don't think I'm going to try this as people may think I'm losing my mind.

Thanks again,
Al
 
Going downstairs comfortably took me a really long time, but I got there and you will too.
 
Brownie, you are too funny, but you're right. I can see me going downhill backwards on the stairs, it will raise a few eyebrows. Kneeper, I'm trying going down everyday at least once and I just go very slow and hold on to the rail. I usually wait until no one is using the stairs but it seems the minute I start going down everybody and their brother get behind me. But they understand and give me a smile of approval.

Not long ago, when I was using my cane, I noticed that people were nicer than usual. They held the door for me, while in a market parking lot drivers would stop and motion to go across, a lady asked me if she could help me carry my bag with groceries. Some even asked why didn't I have a handicapped plate. That made me feel good, knowing I wasn't the only nice guy out there (just kidding!).

My challenge is going down the stairs but as kneeper said, it takes some time and that's ok. The only other problem I have is that the area around my knee, (imagine drawing a circle around my knee) those muscles outside of the circle tend to get sore after sitting in front of the computer for over an hour. The other day I drove for about 45 minutes and that area got so sore that the pain level was at 10 - I had to pull over and massage that area then walk and stretch for a minute before the pain got to a level of 4. Having the right knee replaced is difficult as driving keeps your right foot very busy, especially driving in the city. I wonder if anyone else has this problem, if so, please advise.

Be nice to your knees,

Al
 
Hurtin Unit, No, you're the only one having problem driving. NOT! For a long time I used my right arm to assist my right leg.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Corganics CBD
Active Antimicrobial Hydrogel

Staff online

  • Layla
    Layla
    Staff member since November 20, 2017

Members online

Total: 2,189 (members: 1, guests: 2,188)

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom