Revision TKR Never give up, keep trying, don't settle - that's me, Bonnie

[ruppbike]

Re: 7 months post op and 137 ROM!

Way to go Bonnie! I think we need to butt up against the wall and then recover and learn the best we can. Hard to retrain the personalities that we are to just take it easy. I found that at 7 to 8 months the generalized swelling was replaced with localized tightness as a result of "over doing it." I ran last week with some tightness before the run and found that the run actually loosened things up. Anyway, even at 10 months I keep getting surprised and try to learn the new limits and then push them. Getting up to marathon distance by January would be a challenge for any runner - that is a huge increase in miles per week. Listen to the feedback and adjust as you go. Best of luck and great to hear how you have progressed so well.

Kurt

 

[RunA42K]

Re: 7 months post op and 137 ROM!

Oh Kurt...I am not running a marathon in January! I may be ambitious but I am not crazy. It is a 1/2 marathon here in Houston in January which I plan to walk/jog. I want to do the marathon again but would not even try until January 2013. I plan to increase one mile each week. If I can walk/jog 4 now, next weekend I will do 5 and so on until I reach 13 and I will be ready for the day of the 1/2. All I want to do is participate, no speed records here. I am glad that you are doing so well, I realized that you are exactly 3 months ahead of me. It is always good to see and hear about those out in front of you to give you a clue as to what to expect and hope for. Now I am going to hop on my bike here in the house on the trainer and ride for a bit before I shower and get ready for work! Have a wonderful day everyone!

Trick or Treat! Happy Halloween!!

p.s. attaching a picture of my knee!

 

[ruppbike]

Re: 7 months post op and 137 ROM!

That sounds better. Sorry for not understanding that. You have a well-thought out plan to achieve your goals and a great attitude to see it through. Enjoy!

 

[RunA42K]

My TKR is making loud noises...

My knee is making lots of noise today. Like never before. It used to make a clunking sound just every now and then when I would swing my bent knee forward and back, and sometimes while walking. The doc knew about this and said it was normal. But...starting today it is very noisy, the way I just described but now in another way. Try to visualize this...sit down in a chair, knee bent at 90 degrees. Now with your knee still at 90 degrees, just rock your leg right, left, right, left. While doing this it is making quite a loud popping/clicking sound. My PT was baffled by it and suggested IT Band or other tendons. I have a call into the doctor about it too. Have any of you experienced something like this before? It is quite loud and everyone can hear it. It is not painful, but very weird! It makes me worry that it is loose or something. I am 7 months 2 weeks post op now.

 

[Jamie]

Re: My TKR is making loud noises...

Bonnie, I do think it's wise to have things checked out....if for no other reason than to ease your mind. But I don't feel like it is related to a loosening of your prosthesis. Normally when that happens you would have pain associated with movement or when putting weight on your knee.

I'll tag Jo, though, so that she can respond. @Josephine:

 

[janlyn48]

Re: My TKR is making loud noises...

A couple months ago my knee was making a crunching, crackling sound with the movement you describe. It went away but it doesn't sound quite as noisy... oops, wait.
While sitting here typing I started making the knee movements you described. I get a noticable popping sound. Can't say I like it very much. It gives me the creeps. :rolleyespink:

 

[PhoenixS]

Re: My TKR is making loud noises...

Mine does the same thing, and it is painful. It feels like the components of the revision are banging around in there. The knee is otherwise stable. None of the OS's I've seen appeared concerned by it, though in passing one mentioned a bigger spacer might improve things.
See what your OS says.
Sandy

 

[Josephine]

Re: My TKR is making loud noises...

Those sounds aren't indicative of loosening, Bonnie. Pain is indicative of loosening and especially pain on weight bearing. I'm not sure what it can be and knowing you, I think you will be best reassured by getting your surgeon to take a look at it.

 

[janlyn48]

Re: My TKR is making loud noises...

Bonnie, please keep us updated about your noisy knee. I'll be seeing my OS in a month (annual check up) and I'll ask him about the anomaly too.

 

[zjrog]

Re: My TKR is making loud noises...

Mine isn't noisy, but when doing squats at PT, I get a sort of sharp feeling as I stand back up from a bit more than 90* (none weight bearing squats, just my body weight). It doesn't hurt, so I'm not real concerned. Its just a sensation I've gotten used to. It isn't anything I can hear though.

 

[daniel80]

Re: My TKR is making loud noises...

Hi Bonnie

Sorry to hear of your problems. I had the exact symptoms you have described.
About 6 months after my tkr my surgeon had me back in and replaced the spacers in the joint with larger ones.
This seemed to make the problem worse, and also resulted in movement of the knee alineament .
This resulted in another tkr [noiles knee] six months later.
To cut a long story short I would think long and hard about having this done again as I am still not happy with the outcome.
I have since found out that these noises could be down to loss of muscle and if thats the case would reduce once the muscle recovers.
I wish I had waited longer but in the end you have to trust the surgeons advice.
Wish you luck

 

[Bees Knees]

Re: My TKR is making loud noises...

I had more noise a few months ago or i just got used to it. I would talk to your doctor but give it time if you are not in pain.

 

[RunA42K]

Re: My TKR is making loud noises...

Well, the noises have calmed down quite a bit. My doctor said he did not need to see me saying that noises are normal. If I had pain then that was different and would need to be seen...but I have no pain! So, I go out on a 20 mile bike ride on Sunday and fall over twice because I could not get my right foot (TKR leg) unclipped from my pedal. The first time I went down I felt my TKR knee twisting to the point of pain and was just praying that I didn't dislocate it or do some other damage to it. After being helped out of the ditch on the side of the road I continued on and rode the last 8 miles to complete 20. Once I was finished I did the same thing again and fell over into a concrete parking lot. My knee was sore Sunday and Monday, but is much better today. I didn't see my doctor over it, but I did see my pt. he told me to behave the rest of the week! I am being good!

 

[Jamie]

Re: My TKR is making loud noises...

Bonnie.....do you know the reason you were not able to get your foot out of the clip? Was it just that you weren't able to respond fast enough? Were the clips too tight? Can you ride without clips for a while?

 

[Retsel]

Re: My TKR is making loud noises...

Oh Bonnie, falling twice on one bike ride how traumatic. I'm glad you are feeling better now. I agree you need to behave. :wink1:

 

[RunA42K]

Re: My TKR is making loud noises...

Bonnie.....do you know the reason you were not able to get your foot out of the clip? Was it just that you weren't able to respond fast enough? Were the clips too tight? Can you ride without clips for a while?

Thought I would pick up this thread that I started and run with it so to speak! Jamie, I could not get my foot unclipped because I couldn't turn my leg in time to get it released before I was going too slow and fell over. I have been afraid to ride my bike ever since, those two falls were on November 20, 2011. Two weeks ago I took my bike into the bike shop and asked them to put regular pedals on my bike. With that being said, I have not been out riding because my knee has been too sore.

I made my doctor appointment for January 3 to see the OS because my knee has been swollen above and below the joint for a couple of weeks now. It feels sore/bruised to the touch on the medial side of my knee. It is harder to bend now then it was in October. Now I have pain just like before surgery upon standing. When I sit for a bit, whether here at home or driving in the car for a bit. The first step to putting my weight on the ground is painful. That worries me. Yes it is still pretty noisy too. My PT says there is noise/movement (in the joint)? He says it is NOT my knee cap making the noise, something else deeper is. All I can do is wait until Tuesday for my late afternoon appointment for some answers. I fingered that coming back to Bone Smart would be a good place for me to hang out!
:secretaea:

 

[Josephine]

Re: My TKR is making loud noises...

I would suggest that the problem is the lack of dexterity in your leg, ankle and knee.
It will come back in time but it might take many more months yet.

 

[Jamie]

Re: My TKR is making loud noises...

I think it's good to have things checked out, Bonnie. If nothing else, a clean report will ease your mind that the implant is okay.

From personal experience, I can tell you that it takes MUCH longer to recovery from these hard falls than I ever expected. I was thinking weeks and it is working on "months" from my last big tumble.

Jo explained it very well to me when she talked about falling directly on your implant. The metal parts are well bonded and they don't move. But....your soft tissue gets wedged between the hard metal and the hard surface you have fallen on. It really tweaks the tissue in ways it wouldn't with a natural knee. Plus...I feel like the force of the impact has more of an effect on the remaining natural bone in terms of trauma. There just is no "give" in that metal and any impact will transfer up and down in the natural bone more than it would if you didn't have the metal part.

Because of all this, it makes sense to me that a good, hearty fall can require some time to heal. So....be more patient than I am and give yourself some time.

 

[Josephine]

Re: My TKR is making loud noises...

The classic "between a rock and a hard place"!

 

[RunA42K]

Re: My TKR is making loud noises...

Ok ladies, as always you are right again! I saw my OS today and got some new X-rays of my TKR! Jamie you were right in saying that the soft tissue is so traumatized that it takes a while to heal and Josephine you were right in talking about how bad a direct fall on the knee could be. I talked about all of this with my doctor today.

My X-rays assured that my TKR is solidly in place and secure, not misaligned. not loosening, the bone has grown around it. The soft tissue had been traumatized in my two bike falls and that takes a long time to calm down. Doc said it was good that I did not take direct hit on the knee itself on concrete because that could be much worse.

I am glad that I went because now I know that every thing I have done up to this point has not hurt my TRK at all (including running!) I will carry on and be patient with my healing.

Got to tell you also that I met a customer in the store yesterday named Robyn, she came looking for help telling me that she had recently had a TKR, not knowing that I had had one too. I told her about mine and we bonded instantly. I was caring and patient with her, giving her all the help that she needed. A labor and delivery nurse who is going back to work in two weeks (TKR was 11/8/11) who will be on her feet all day. Her doctor told her to come to our store and I just happened to be the one helping her. We shared knee stories, and she was so relieved to know that I also know was the metal clamp feeling around the knee. I got her taken care of, gave her the Bone Smart web address and she left happy and I felt really good. I went to work in the running speciality store because I could be around runners and talk running with all of my experience, but now I found I can talk to and help TKR patients just like myself. Very rewarding day yesterday! I hope that she will sign onto Bone Smart!

All in well here in Texas tonight! Take care everyone! :doggieshmooze: