New Pain at 5 Weeks

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BruceT

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Dec 21, 2008
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Four days ago I had a strenuous PT session and have been in a new kind of extreme pain. I had left knee done. Pain is on the left side of the knee. Area is 4 1/2 inches running along the incision from bottom of cut. The outside skin is numb to the touch, but it hurts on the inside. It feels like it is traveling down the bone inside the leg. Ice does not help. Neither does elevation. It is almost as if nerves inside the leg are waking up.

It takes a great amount of pain meds to affect it. (60 mg of Oxycodone) In a few hours they wear off and the pain is back.

I am discouraged because I thought I was making pretty good progress. What could be going on and what do I do?
 
I'd guess that you really overdid yourself in your PT. This can result in soft tissue swelling inside your knee joint. I have experienced this a number of times (when I get crazy and think I'm totally healed) and the pain can be in a variety of places in the leg - not necessarily in the knee joint itself. It can be quite severe if the swelling and irritation are great enough. My surgeon explained that this is because the knee joint is a rather confined area and the swelling travels and allows pain on the side of the knee, on the shin bone (my personal favorite - LOL), and the side of the leg. When it happened to me after a big workout, I was afraid I had done something bad.....noooo, just told to stop pushing quite that hard at this stage (at the time that was 6 months from surgery). Frankly at 5 weeks, you probably still need to temper your activity a little. You are still a newbie in the recovery process. Even though things heal well on the outside, look good and you feel great, you are still healing from a MAJOR operation involving sawing, hammering and manipulating bones deep within your body. It takes months (and sometimes a year or more) to get back to the real normal. I would recommend cutting back on the workouts, continue icing and elevating, and take anti-inflammants. I think it will probably get better in a week or so.
 
What she said! Can't better that.
 
Thanks for the compliment, Josephine! I learned from the BEST - YOU!!!! Well, that and experiencing the pain firsthand! Owie, ouchie, ouch!!!
 
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