TKR Now two years post op and still recovering from nerve damage

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Hi @speedy2

My ability to walk distances has been a slowly achieved. I was walking 10 minutes, four times a day on crutches from a week post op. I kept that up for a couple of months. And then I found a deserted lane that was flat and walked about a kilometre still using crutches and then I progressively extended it. I let my leg tell me how far it wanted to go - if it felt fatigued I stopped. At about a year I'd get tired after time rather than distance. So if walking on the flat I'd get further in two hours than I would on the hills. The first time I walked the circuit around Moke Lake I took 3 hours and the final 20 minutes or so were agony, mainly the muscles in my lower leg. Now I can get right around without any muscle pain. When I go out hiking, I don't try to do the circuit in record time. I take lots of breaks. The longest I've done is 16km in just under 6 hours.

What have I done to achieve it? Nothing really other than getting out there and doing it. I swam for a while, rode exercycle on and off but I find just walking works best. I still have terminal extension issues with my quads because I got femoral nerve damage from the nerve block and it can take years to recover from that. Under my new physio I'm back to doing short arc quads and one exercise for extension which I'm supposed to do a few of multiple times a day but generally I get to do them twice.
 
Thank you so much for that Margaret. I think what you have achieved is amazing - I know it hasn't just happened but been a lot of hard work.
I am determined to increase my walking a little each day. I can't do that much during the week but am determined to try and walk each day - i've just come back and hip hip hooray it is a lovely day - blue skies and brightness. The sort of day that makes the heart sing!
I too have terrible muscle ache in my calfs etc. I suppose the whole leg needs to get fit not just the knee.
I will be on my exercise bike a little later.
Thank you for taking the time to respond.
Keep up the good work you wonderful woman!:dancy::thankyou:
 
The best thing you can do is to remain patient and work slowly to increase your activity level. I will be celebrating my one year anniversary for my second TKR and I am just now beginning to feel like I'm able to push a bit with my walking and exercise. My recovery from the TKR went very quickly initially (until about 6 months), then it just kind of stopped. I had a lot of that "tight band" stuff going on when I'd try to walk much. I still have it with stairs, but it's finally lessening. See....and I thought initially that I had a really "fast" recovery going!!! Not so....I'm just normal.

So....keep doing what you're doing and you'll get there. Slow and steady gets it done.
 
@Jamie I'm right in there with you. I've found walking to be the best therapy. I walk on the treadmill almost every day and it's taken me about a month to get up to 30 minutes with no discomfort. I could probably go longer but I'm not ready to push it, but I agree that walking has helped me more than anything. Dorothy
 
Thank you @Jamie and @turtle68. It'g great to hear how others are/have coped with trying to improve stamina and walking. I will keep up my walking and hope I will get improved distances.
I don't think I will ever be up to @Campervan but I will give it a good go.
Happy walking Margaret, I so love your photograph. Quite inspirational.
 
A shorter walk today at 6.5 kilometres. Total time 2 hours 20 mins, moving time 1 hour 30 minutes. Average moving speed 4.4 km per hour, average overall speed 2.8 km per hour. I have MyTracks app on my phone.
 
It's been a bit since I logged in. I did get your post about a month ago sent to my email. Don't know how I was selected to get it, but I was glad I did. It was so encouraging!!! I copied and emailed it to my PT. I think I'm going to focus on weight-loss and see if my legs don't improve as I take weight off. It's overdue.
 
Today I was at the hairdressers, sitting reading a magazine and all of a sudden my ears pricked up as the lady next to me said to her stylist "I had a knee replacement 10 months ago and got femoral nerve damage". So of course I butt in and we exchanged stories. Not quite the same. I don't think she'd had femoral nerve block. She's been told her damage is likely due to the tourniquet. Then here's the next co-incidence we both had surgery in Auckland 1600km away and at the same hospital.

OK so how's my knee doing. Still improving but still got lag albeit less than it was. I can definitely get it straighter but still not totally straight. The quads are now showing shape. I see my physio every couple of weeks and that and the few targeted exercises she has me doing do seem to be moving things along.

And my visit to her today was special because I got to see my other physio's 7 week old little girl. She's a real darling and already interested in everything around her.
 
Campervan, I have not logged on for some time, but am glad I got your last post in my email. I have followed your postings as we had surgery at about the same time. My second TKR was Dec 2011. At any rate, I have left leg nerve damage, did have a femoral block, but am told the nerve is "peroneal" -- have recurring numbness in my foot and sometimes strong leg cramps at night. At any rate, our "nerve" issues are a part of our everyday planning, right? I also have "patella knee clunk" on my right knee, preventing me from biking or sitting with my knee bent for too long etc. Life seems to continue to be an "accommodation" process.... but I have to say that the nerve damage problem greatly improved at almost 2 years post-op (took a lot longer than any OD said, and I got a couple of opinions)

Anyway, I also find that certain things aggravate my nerve and I try to avoid them. Am wondering if others have the same issue. If I stand for a long time (in lines at an amusement park with my grandchildren etc) - I wake up at night with terrible leg cramps. If I carry anything "heavy" - even a mid-sized purse - then my foot goes numb. Also - if I try to stand from a sitting position, the "knee clunk" on my other knee kicks in and I need assistance with my arms. I do not know how many people experience this or what they do to accommodate.... I will share mine and maybe get other hints? (1) Obviously, do not carry things whenever possible (2) walk, but not more than 4 miles a day (3) strengthen my upper body so I do not need to rely as much on my legs - also exercise my legs as much as the "clunk" allows. I would love to continue to improve, am wondering if anyone has hints of thinks I might do - Elizabeth
 
Hi Elizabeth, its interesting to compare results with others who have nerve damage. I can't lift my leg straight, it drops from the knee but I do know that it has been slowly improving. I've been seeing a new physio since January and she's also doing acupuncture and I do short arc quads, quad sets and patella glides. Some of the things you mention I'd never thought to be part of the nerve damage. My calf stiffenes but doesn't quite go into cramp. I also get something like cramp through the instep of my foot. So maybe they are related. Because of the VMO weakness caused by the nerve damage my patella doesn't track straight - it pulls off to one side and thats why I have pain going up and own hills and getting out of chairs. But it is definitely improving.

There's a post a couple of pages back from when I first saw the new physio in January and she explained what was going on with the nerve regeneration and that once it starts to regenerate it can be as slow as 1mm a week, so think of the length from the damage point of the groin to the VMO at the knee, it could take 5 years!

The other interesting thing talking to the lady at the hairdressers yesterday was that she had major post op pain for a long time. I had none to speak off, just the tight rubber band stiffness.
 
@Campervan ,

Hello!

It has been a long time my friend!

Remember I had all sorts of issues with patella tracking and so forth! On May 7th, I will have this revision for two years! Remember how long it took for me to get up and going! You will make it! Just hang in there!:driver:
 
I saw my GP for something non-knee earlier this week. She asked how my lag was. So I showed her. She said its improved and now looks to be 5 degrees, which is better than the 8 degrees the surgeon said it was last November. Post op it was 30 degrees. Its taken 2.5 years so far. My calculation is that at current rate of regeneration its going to take about another year.
 
Great update, happy to hear you are still making progress with your knee.


Sent from my iPod touch using BoneSmart®
 
Margaret---not what you wanted two years ago, but patience seems to win in the end. I am happy to hear of the continuing progress and your confidence is rewarded!!!
 
Yes, it's good to hear that you've had some gains with your knee. You are proof that patience pays!!!
 
Margaret

I am proud of you! You have had a long road, but you just keep on chugging! :happydance:
 
Darn, darn, darn - what I didn't say above was that a week ago I fell off an office chair! It was on one of those awful plastic carpet protectors and as I got up the chair moved backwards and I went splat down onto my bum. Since then I've had increasing pain in the front of my hip so today I saw my physio and she said I've injured the labrum but as yet we don't know to what extent.
 
Oh Margaret, as a fellow klutz, I empathize. I am hoping it is a small blip in the road!!! But, what a pain in the bum!!
 
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