TKR Now five months and questioning

[Beckadeez]

Awesome! You go girl!

 

[Celle]

I'm glad your surgeon is pleased with your progress. You're doing well.

 

[martha85]

I sympathize with you and I'm so sad knowing that there are so many great people that feeling that way. I know that post-operational pain is huge, but stay strong and take care of yourself in order to recover as fast as possible.

 

[DebCoz]

I wish I knew how to change the subject of this, because I’m five months out and have a question. I’ve been experiencing what i think is soft tissue pain on the outside of my left, replaced knee. Also, my TKR knee feels stiff, not the joint, but the skin or muscle, especially when going down steps. Is this “normal”?

 

[Jockette]

Let us know what you want to change your title to and we’ll take care of it for you.

At 5 months my knee was still quite stiff and I couldn’t do stairs, either.

 

[Pumpkin]

From your description, you may have this, ITB (ilio-tibial band) issues and treatments .

 

[chsed]

DebCoz, Hi! In answer to your stiffness at 5 months question--I had the same issue with the stabbing pain on either the inside or outside of the new knee, particularly the outside. One of the best things I did in my recovery was deep tissue massage on that entire leg. I had tightness and knots in a few of the different muscle groups, and DTM made a HUGE difference!

Hang in there! What they say about recovery taking a full year is no joke. I'm two years out, and it's even better than ever now.

 

[kneeper]

Also, my TKR knee feels stiff, not the joint, but the skin or muscle, especially when going down steps. Is this “normal”?

Is this new or just a continuing thing. If continuing I'd say normal. It can take a long time to go away.

 

[DebCoz]

kneeler, it’s pretty continuing. Does anyone else have their new knee get stiff when stsnding for Long periods of time?

 

[sistersinhim]

Does anyone else have their new knee get stiff when standing for Long periods of time?

Oh yes. New knees don't like standing still. What I did was to keep bending my leg while standing there. It helped.

 

[Dizzy]

I had to buy a new cellphone and I was standing in the store for over an hour as the guy was transferring the information. Could hardly walk to the car!

 

[Jajakio]

Watch out for one step forward, one step back. This can be a very uneven recovery. It's not as bad if you are prepared for it. One day I would be feeling good and think I was finally making significant progress, the next I would be worse than the day before. It gradually gets better, but you can still get an off day now and then, I noticed a significant improvement about 6 weeks and another about 12 weeks. You may be entirely different. My philosophy with exercise was to work to the point of discomfort and keep up that routine until it was relatively easy, then add on a little more. Don't worry about what is normal or typical for a particular number of weeks out, just let your knee take the lead and do what you reasonably can, it will gradually improve. I did exercise all the way through and I think it helped me. But i did overdo a few times and it did cause temporary set backs.

 

[DebCoz]

I’m at eight months and have been getting dull pain in the outside part of my knee, where it’s still pretty numb when I touch it. I’m hoping it’s soft tissue pain and regeneration, but am terrified the implant is failing. The one my doctor uses and has used for decades has been named in lawsuits here. I called and spoke to him and he said there’s nothing to worry about, but I a worried.

 

[Celle]

I think you can expect to feel pain here and there during the first year after a TKR. The numbness is normal -
Numb area after TKR: how long will it last?

If your knee implant was one around which there was concern, your surgeon would have been notified, so try not to worry about that. It's obviously a make that he trusts and has had success with. What sort is it?

 

[DebCoz]

It’s the DePuy Attune Knee replacement My OS said no worries, so