TKR New knee Feb 5
- Thread starter mary64
- Start date
Hi Mary, Welcome to Recovery again. Yes, we’ll add you to the list.
I will leave you our Recovery Guidelines. Each article is short but very informative. Following these guidelines will help you have a less painful recovery.
Knee Recovery: The Guidelines
1. Don’t worry: Your body will heal all by itself. Relax, let it, don't try and hurry it, don’t worry about any symptoms now, they are almost certainly temporary
2. Control discomfort:
3. Do what you want to do BUT
4. PT or exercise can be useful BUT take note of these
5. At week 4 and after you should follow this
6. Access to these pages on the website
The Recovery articles:
The importance of managing pain after a TKR and the pain chart
Swollen and stiff knee: what causes it?
Energy drain for TKRs
Elevation is the key
Ice to control pain and swelling
Heel slides and how to do them properly
Chart representation of TKR recovery
Healing: how long does it take?
Post op blues is a reality - be prepared for it
Sleep deprivation is pretty much inevitable - but what causes it?
There are also some cautionary articles here
Myth busting: no pain, no gain
Myth busting: the "window of opportunity" in TKR
Myth busting: on getting addicted to pain meds
We try to keep the forum a positive and safe place for our members to talk about their questions or concerns and to report successes with their joint replacement surgery.
While members may create as many threads as they like in the majority of BoneSmart’s forums, we ask that each member have only One Recovery Thread. This policy makes it easier to go back and review the member’s history before providing advice, so please post any updates or questions you have right here in this thread.
I will leave you our Recovery Guidelines. Each article is short but very informative. Following these guidelines will help you have a less painful recovery.
Knee Recovery: The Guidelines
1. Don’t worry: Your body will heal all by itself. Relax, let it, don't try and hurry it, don’t worry about any symptoms now, they are almost certainly temporary
2. Control discomfort:
rest
ice
take your pain meds by prescription schedule (not when pain starts!)
3. Do what you want to do BUT
a. If it hurts, don't do it and don't allow anyone - especially a physical therapist - to do it to you
b. If your leg swells more or gets stiffer in the 24 hours after doing it, don't do it again.
4. PT or exercise can be useful BUT take note of these
5. At week 4 and after you should follow this
6. Access to these pages on the website
The Recovery articles:
The importance of managing pain after a TKR and the pain chart
Swollen and stiff knee: what causes it?
Energy drain for TKRs
Elevation is the key
Ice to control pain and swelling
Heel slides and how to do them properly
Chart representation of TKR recovery
Healing: how long does it take?
Post op blues is a reality - be prepared for it
Sleep deprivation is pretty much inevitable - but what causes it?
There are also some cautionary articles here
Myth busting: no pain, no gain
Myth busting: the "window of opportunity" in TKR
Myth busting: on getting addicted to pain meds
We try to keep the forum a positive and safe place for our members to talk about their questions or concerns and to report successes with their joint replacement surgery.
While members may create as many threads as they like in the majority of BoneSmart’s forums, we ask that each member have only One Recovery Thread. This policy makes it easier to go back and review the member’s history before providing advice, so please post any updates or questions you have right here in this thread.
Thank you for your surgery dates. I've added them to your signature for you.
mary64
new member
I am now 10 days out from my TKRs . I feel like I am doing fairly well compared to my last one 5 years ago. I can now walk using cane as opposed to walker which is much sooner than last time. It still is very stiff and am finding the heel slides so hard. I just don’t know how hard I should push myself.
Helizabug
graduate
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See if you can pay attention to how your knee feels, the pain and swelling. For a lot of us, maybe most of us, it has been important not to inflict any more damage on our new knees. If you are in more pain or have increased swelling, you may have pushed your knee too much. Those articles that Jockette posted are very helpful.
Don't push had at all. At this very early stage of recovery, you knee isn't going to bend far, because it's swollen and the swelling makes it almost impossible to bend.
It's not exercising that gets you your ROM (Range of Motion) - it's time. Time to recover, time for swelling and pain to settle, and time to heal. Your knee has the potential to achieve good ROM right from the start, but it's prevented from doing so by swelling and pain. As it heals and the swelling goes down, your ROM (both flexion and extension) will gradually increase.
mary64
new member
I had my first knee done 5 years ago and my second Feb 5. This one seems to be so much easier already. It seems like I was on a walker 4 weeks last time and now I’m using a cane but can do indoors without. Pain doesn’t seem as much although it is stiff and working on rom. My dr says every one is different.
mary64
new member
I feel like I have had a little setback. All of a sudden today I have a sharp pain in the inside side of my knee which makes it difficult to bend as far as I could before. Does this mean I overdid it in therapy today or is this normal. I was getting along with little pain meds and now I feel like I need more. I would appreciate any feedback. Maybe I was getting too confident!
@mary64 - I've moved the above two posts from someone else's thread into your own recovery thread. Please bookmark your thread, so that you don't post about your knee in another person's thread.
Thank you.
This new pain may because you've overdone the exercises. At this very early stage of recovery, you really don't need many exercises.
Just walking around your house is enough exercise for now.
Your knee has been through a major surgery and it needs time and gentle treatment, so it can start to heal.
So, spend less time doing exercises and more time resting, icing and elevating your knee.
Thank you.
This new pain may because you've overdone the exercises. At this very early stage of recovery, you really don't need many exercises.
Just walking around your house is enough exercise for now.
Your knee has been through a major surgery and it needs time and gentle treatment, so it can start to heal.
So, spend less time doing exercises and more time resting, icing and elevating your knee.
Lindylee
post-grad
Hi, I had a similar thing happen with this knee, which is also much easier than my first. Mine happened when I, accidentally, bent my knee back too far, so it sounds to me that you might have overdone the therapy. As Celle says the best thing is to rest, ice and elevate and maybe do some gentle exercises if you feel like it until it settles. That's what I did and mine soon settled down. I hope yours will too.
mary64
new member
i thought I was in my thread. How do I add to my thread? Thanks@mary64 - I've moved the above two posts from someone else's thread into your own recovery thread. Please bookmark your thread, so that you don't post about your knee in another person's thread.
Thank you.
This new pain may because you've overdone the exercises. At this very early stage of recovery, you really don't need many exercises.
Just walking around your house is enough exercise for now.
Your knee has been through a major surgery and it needs time and gentle treatment, so it can start to heal.
So, spend less time doing exercises and more time resting, icing and elevating your knee.
You just go down to the bottom of the page, where you'll see a blank box with the words "Write your reply".
Just start typing in that box, then select "Post reply".
Of course, make sure you're in your own thread first. bookmark your thread, so you don't lose it.
You can tell when you're in your own thread, because the background colour to your posts will be a pale blue/grey, while everyone else's post has a white background.
Have a look up this page and you should see the difference.
Just start typing in that box, then select "Post reply".
Of course, make sure you're in your own thread first. bookmark your thread, so you don't lose it.
You can tell when you're in your own thread, because the background colour to your posts will be a pale blue/grey, while everyone else's post has a white background.
Have a look up this page and you should see the difference.
mary64
new member
A little bummed. Went to my first outpatient pt today. He was very gentle but my rom has gone from 97 to 80, mainly because of this new right side sharp pain that started Friday. It prevents me from flexing too far because it hurts too much. I was disappointed because I thought I was doing so well. He assured me not to worry. Do you go backwards sometimes on this recovery?
Qdogpa
member
I have found 1 step forward, 1 1/2 back..thought I was doing great, seems like I have hit the wall...achy, stiff, minor pain in knee area...though did stop Tylenol last Thursday,which was likely a mistake on my part..restarted Tylenol 500 tonight, so hope less pain in upcoming days...
Peaches0000
junior member
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It truly is trial and error, it is a Catch 22, you need to exercise, but then it is so easy to overdue it and then your knee swells and your ROM goes backwards-It is hard to find the right balance with medications- because of the opioid crisis, people who have never abused drugs are denied them , except for very short term, then it is to hard to exercise or even walk-I 'm sorry, but Tylenol does not help when you are only a few weeks out from your surgery. I wish they would let you stay on any meds that you need for 12 weeks and then do a medical weaning off of them. I felt Quilty asking for more, the office people act so weird, that I quit them when I ran out last week My left knee is getting TKR surgery on April 2, my right TKR was Jan 9, 2020, the Dr. wanted to wait 12 weeks apart. My problem is my left knee is now killing me, I can barely walk from the pain- I didn't realize that the pain meds made it possible to be my "good leg" during my recovery! I see my Ortho Surgeon tomorrow and will get his opinion on pain management. I am happy that I had this surgery-I see the value in it already, even with all of my complaining.
mary64
new member
Thanks for the assurance that this is normal. I have been through this before but thought this time was so much easier( it still is) but guess I thought I was going to recover more quickly. It’s hard to just be patient but nice to know we’re all in the same boat. I love this site to hear what is “normal”
