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TKR New knee for Fancy Pants

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So I can walk without crutches and manage the stairs one at a time. My bend is great. Still not got a straight leg but it is very painful to do the exercises.i support the foot and let the knee relax with nothing underneath but can only do a couple of minutes, it really hurts. Same with pushing the back of knee into the bed. Pain ++ in my knee. What should I do? I'm more comfortable on crutches but should I be weaning myself off them? The more I do the more I pay for it in the evening and during the night..... I'm quite happy to take it slow but how slow should I go? I do the usual exercises and have a pedal exercises but I certainly don't push myself hard. I do the icing and elevating and take painkillers regularly.
 
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Use crutches for longer use activity. If it hurts without use them. Pressing knee down is always tough till quads etc are back so easy pain free stretches
 
That's right, just keep trying a little bit every day.
 
Hang in there about your leg extension, you are still in the early stages. My last knee it hurt so bad and I never got to zero. This one seems a little easier but this time the PT are not as aggressive about the extension and the stretches they are having me do seem to be helping my quads, something they never worked on before.

If you feel comfortable with your crutches don't worry it will come when you will not want them any more.
 
@fiberlady have read your story and it's so true that everybody's knee is different! I had pain so intense in the early days i would just sit and cry, even taking all my meds. Worse at night and eventually got Oromorph (morphine) prescribed for a short time which helped. Also I had Gabapentin for nerve pain ( a sharp pain on the medial aspect of my knee preventing me from putting any weight on that knee which my OS said was nerve pain) and "restless leg syndrome" at night. That pain has now gone. I am just over 3 weeks now and getting better every day.....taking Tramadol and not ready to cut back just yet but I will be soon. I can walk unaided and trying very hard to walk normally without favouring that leg. Can't do stairs normally though - still one at a time. wish the snow would vanish from the pavements so I could go outside for a potter!
 
I haven't taken stairs normally for many years. I don't even know if I could do them normally any more. I take them one at a time, we have banisters on both sides of the stairs which really helps. We hare having a huge snow storm today, I am really looking forward to spring to get out of the house. Doing this in the winter was not a wise move, but glad it is over.
 
Remember the 5 Ps for recover. The first is Patience. .. we all seem challenged by this one. Time is your knees friend (co-conspirator )...they have decided what will happen an when. This pact is different for each knee. You will get there. Maggie x

Maggie via Tapatalk
 
So I've been pottering around the house without crutches. No pain. BUT I seem to have forgotten how to walk!!!!!! I've been doing the "arthritic waddle" for so long that I find I can't do anything else!
 
I don't feel so bad now, I walk that way too. I guess it will take time before we relearn how to walk. At least we are on the right path
 
[Bonesmart.org] New knee for Fancy Pants

If a "wiggle" is too much to hope for then maybe just my "stride"......you know those long strides when you go for a long healthy walk with friends and you all stride out together...you have a backpack with sandwiches and a flask of tea and a rug and after a couple of hours you plonk down on the grass somewhere looking out over a lovely view and just smiling with the pleasure of it all? I took it all for granted! (my problems came on very quickly after a twisty-turn injury where I tore cartilage15 months ago, and MRI scan 6 months later showed severe OA though I'd had no symptoms. It all just never recovered.....the OA took over and ended up with TKR. So 16 months ago I was walking in The Lake District where I usually live, without a care in the world!) I imagine there are many of the BS with similar stories - I know I'll never take my health for granted again!!!!!
 

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Nice photo!

You'll get your wiggle back in the end.

It's best to use your crutches until your gait is normal - concentrate on walking properly (heel, toe, push off) while the crutches keep you steady. Do it slowly and concentrate on losing that waddle, until walking properly becomes second nature again.
 
Thanks @Celle ....I'm paying the price now for walking around crutch-less, so to speak, yesterday. Have gone back to the crutches as you advised. Painful knee tonight. Bah humbug.....
 
Hi @Fancypants, my PT was determined that I would walk without my 'waddle' I'm not sure that I've got my 'wiggle' back, but I have lost the waddle, and can now stride properly. She had me working on my quads and hamstrings, but to improve my gait she said I needed to work hard on my glutes - lots of balance exercises, brushing my teeth on my leg, as @Legin (Hi, thinking of you xx) pointed out 'flamingo tooth brushing' which made me smile. Bridge and clam floor exercises as well. Good luck xx
 
@Ellejay ok been online to find bridge and clam exercises and will start those...I've been so busy with quads and bends andd exercise bike I didn't think of glutes. Physio today had me stepping up on a step but it was painful and I just couldn't do it the way she was showing me, using my glutes to push myself up. These floor exercises seem much more gentle. I will do the standing on one leg as well. My bend was 120 but straightening ( don't know what it's called) was 10 so I don't think that's very good? I'm quite happy to take things as easy as I can get away with as am basically lazy.......but obviously need to get a straight leg! Thanks everyone for your input
Mel
 
4 weeks out now. Such an ache in my ankle for a while now....I can only think it's the bruising which is still behind my knee, in my calf and around my ankle. This evening the ache around the ankle is worse than my knee! Is this common? Icing, elevating, taking pain meds etc. Could it be connected to the step-ups at physio the other day?
 
Got some Arnica cream for the bruising. This recovery seems like 2 steps forward and 1 step back! As long as it's not the other way round. ....
 
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