TKR New member, muddling my way through...

[MotownGirl66]

I, too, find standing for an extended period of time or even sitting for that matter aggravates it.

 

[kneeper]

You sound like you're doing well. Keep on doing what you're doing.

 

[sunshine818]

I can walk much longer than just standing still also.

 

[kneeper]

Yeah, I remember that just standing was hard at first.

 

[Cello luv]

I'm at 5+ weeks post op and my ROM continues to improve. I do PT 3 times a week and it is a conservative program: helpful, not hurtful. I have a new difficulty, a flare up of sciatica in my non-surgery leg. I had a laminectomy 2 1/2 years ago for stenosis and a pinched nerve and the sciatica went away almost completely though I occasionally have a flare up. But this is becoming more severe every day. I wonder if the difference in my gait, etc. is causing this. My surgery leg (left) is now longer than my non-surgery leg (right) and I just today got a lift for my right shoe at the suggestion of my PT. She could see by the way I walked that my legs were not equal lengths. I've always been knock-kneed and it's more pronounced in my right leg now that my surgery leg is so much straighter. The sciatica pain is unrelenting and is now worse than the pain of my TKR. Has anyone else experienced something like this?

 

[SeptemberZen]

I used ice constantly for a looooong time. If I was sitting, I had ice. Doing the same thing this time around. I agree with everyone else that ice is the wonder drug.

I also find some relief in moving. If I wake up in the middle of the night and it's achy and twitchy, I hang my legs over the bed and massage the sides of the knee, just to get some space in there. It can help a lot. After sitting for an hour or two, it feels good to me to get up and make a couple of rounds of the house with my cane, concentrating on good posture and stepping properly.

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So glad I found this forum! I wondered about this and now I know it's normal: I take 2 Percocets before I go to bed but often wake up 4 or 5 hours in a lot of pain. I find that if I sit up and move my leg around, the pain gets better. Sometimes I'll get up and go to the bathroom and then the achiness subsides enough for me to go back to sleep. Other times I find I have to take a pain pill. I'm a little over 3 weeks post-op and I'm glad to know that this is normal.