Nine Months post TLKR and stairs still bother a bit

[VikingFan]

Hi All,

How long after TKR should going up and down stairs still bother. I had back pain after my surgery as I had aggravated it during PT. I cut back on some of my excercises because I was unsure of what excercise routine had aggravated my back(My back is much better now). I fell a little bit of a lump just to the outside of the quad muscle close to the knee. I assume that is some scar tissue which is where it hurts when I take stairs. Is it too late to get rid of that or am I stuck with my current progress? Outside of that my surgery was a raging success. My ROM is about 126-130 and the knee doesn't hurt at all.

 

[Jamie]

Well, your ROM certainly is not the problem if you have motion to 126 or 130! That's wonderful. What type of exercises or therapy have you done to get your quad muscles back in shape? What exercises are you doing now and is your back pain still an issue when you do exercise?

 

[VikingFan]

My back is much better. I am doing stairs as an excercise as well deep knee bends and walking and bending the knee trying to get my ROM even better.

 

[Jamie]

I'm glad to hear your back has improved. Here are a couple of options to try with your leg muscles:

If you have access to an exercise bike (upright or recumbent), start with 15 minutes and work up to at least 30 minutes with it at least every other day.

Stand near a counter and balance on one foot (do both legs) beginning at a minute and work up to doing this a couple of times (1 minute) in a row. Once you begin to get stable just standing there, start reaching to various points on the counter top. As you reach, go forward, out to the one side and also to the other side so that you reach in the opposite direction from the leg you are standing on. My therapist taught me this exercise to not only build my leg strength, but also balance and core strength. Keep your back straight and your abs tight as you do this.

When you do the knee bends, be sure an poke your bottom out in back so that you don't put strain on your knee joints. Pretend there is a chair back there and you are going to sit on it....slowly raise and lower your body with your arms bent at waist level and close to your body.

You have great ROM....I'm not sure why you feel the need to improve it. Remember, numbers are just that - NUMBERS! The key is not that number. If you are able to do the things you want to in life, you're THERE!!!

As for the knot, try massaging it a couple of times a day. Sometimes that can help with scar tissue.

You also might want to touch base with your surgeon. Since you are still having problems with stairs, he might be able to order some more physical therapy sessions for you. I would also mention the knot too if you talk with (or see) him....just to be sure things are as they should be.

Hope this helps. You know I'm just over a year out and I still feel like I'm in recovery. Just lately I've felt more "normal" going down steps for some reason. So I do think the idea of recovery going on for a looooong time is accurate! Post again and let me know if any of this makes a difference for you.