TKR Numbness

Jakesmum

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Jun 17, 2018
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Hello everyone,
I'm new to the site and to forums, so please bear with me if I get this wrong. I've been home from hospital three days and like everyone else on the site I'm finding the pain can be almost unbearable at times especially in bed at night.
Although I feel I'm coping well, my husband is constantly nagging me to get out and get some proper exercise before I seize up.
He's very good about fetching and carrying for me and doesn't mind me have a rest but just can't accept that going for a walk around the park or 'getting out and doing something' won't do me more good than sitting around in the house. Nor can he believe it will take more than a couple of weeks for recovery.
I feel he is being more of a hindrance than a help to my recovery and must admit I have snapped at him a couple of times. Has anyone else had a similar reaction from their other half?
 
Hello @Jakesmum - and :welome:

I'm sorry you are having so much pain at night. Usually, that is the result of two things - inadequate medication, and too much activity during the daytime.

I'm afraid that your husband doesn't understand that you have had one of the most serious operations possible. Knee replacement causes a lot of trauma and it will take a long time for recovery. It takes as long as a full year for complete recovery, although you will feel much better long before that.

Right now, your knee needs lots of rest, ice and elevation, so it can start healing, before you stress it with lots of exercise. Just getting up and walking around your house is enough for now. You can't make your knee heal faster by exercising and it won't "seize up" if you don't exercise.

I will give you our recovery reading articles in my next post.
In the meantime, I suggest you tell your husband that, while you appreciate his help, this is your knee and you are in charge of what happens to it.
I suggest you show him this article and also get him to watch a video of a knee replacement:
TKR surgery - WARNING: real life photos

Tell him this, too:
There's no need to rush to get ROM (Range of Motion) because it can continue to improve for a year, or even much longer, after a knee replacement. There isn't any deadline you have to meet:
Myth busting: the "window of opportunity" in TKR

And this:
It's not exercising that gets you your ROM (Range of Motion) - it's time. Time to recover, time for swelling and pain to settle, and time to heal. Your ROM is there right from the start, just waiting for all that to happen, so it can show itself.
My surgeon doesn't allow any PT at all for the first month after a knee replacement. He says your knee needs that time, to start on its journey of healing. For that month, we rest, ice and elevate our leg, and walk around the house.
After that month, we just go to PT once every 2 weeks, where we are shown a few new exercises to do at home.
His patients all do well and achieve good ROM, as I did, and he hasn't had to do a manipulation to help with ROM for the past 4 years. I think that speaks for itself.

And this:
Myth busting: no pain, no gain

It is hard for anyone who hasn't had a knee replacement to understand just how much this surgery takes out of you.
 
And here is your recovery reading. All these articles are both useful and informative.

Knee Recovery: The Guidelines
1. Don’t worry: Your body will heal all by itself. Relax, let it, don't try and hurry it, don’t worry about any symptoms now; they are almost certainly temporary
2. Control discomfort:
rest
elevate
ice
take your pain meds by prescription schedule (not when pain starts!)
don't overwork.
3. Do what you want to do BUT
a. If it hurts, don't do it and don't allow anyone - especially a physical therapist - to do it to you
b. If your leg swells more or gets stiffer in the 24 hours after doing it, don't do it again.​
4. PT or exercise can be useful BUT take note of these
5. Here is a week-by-week guide for Activity progression for TKRs


The Recovery articles:
The importance of managing pain after a TKR and the pain chart
Swollen and stiff knee: what causes it?

Energy drain for TKRs
Elevation is the key

Ice to control pain and swelling
Heel slides and how to do them properly

Chart representation of TKR recovery
Healing: how long does it take?

Post op blues is a reality - be prepared for it
Sleep deprivation is pretty much inevitable - but what causes it?

There are also some cautionary articles here
Myth busting: no pain, no gain
Myth busting: the "window of opportunity" in TKR
Myth busting: on getting addicted to pain meds

Please don't be overwhelmed by the list. The articles are not long and they and contain information that will answer many questions and help you make your recovery much easier on your knee and on you.

We are here to help in any way we can: answering questions and concerns; supporting and encouraging you from start to finish.

We try to keep the forum a positive and safe place for our members to talk about their questions or concerns and to report successes with their joint replacement surgery.

While members may create as many threads as they like in a majority of BoneSmart's forums, we ask that each member have only one recovery thread. This policy makes it easier to go back and review history before providing advice.
 
Many of us never took formal PT or did exercises. I am one of them. I had 11 knee surgeries, 2 of them kneecap removals and 1 tkr. Even after those I never took PT. But, I didn't just sit around and do nothing. I took care of myself, my house and yard as my knee allowed me to do. As I healed, I did more. But, my knee was always in control! This was enough therapy for me and would be for any tkr patient. All the awful pain of PT is so unnecessary.

All you have to do is use it in your daily living! Your knee knows how to rehab itself and doesn't need anyone telling it how. Just use it and it will come back like new! You have to be patient, though, it doesn't happen quickly! ADL,(activities of daily living), going to the bathroom, brushing your teeth and bathing, fixing a light meal, getting something to drink and or a snack, those kinds of things will be all the exercise your knee needs. If you just use it daily in your living, you will have a quicker and less painful recovery. We know what works, we've been there!
 
Thank you Celle and Sistersinhim for your support. It's really appreciated. Perhaps hubby should have been invited to all the pre op education classes. It's obvious from your messages that it's education he needs. I did show him the Activity Progression Chart, which he brushed aside, but I'll be firm as you suggest and try to persuade him to watch the video.
My meds are: 50mg Tramadol plus two paracetamol four times a day - 8:00am, 1:00pm, 6:00pm and 10:30pm but I feel as though I need another dose at about 04:00am.
Thank you again
 
Hang out with us, we all know what you’re going through.

My guess is that your husband won’t watch a surgery video and even if he does it may not change his mind.

You may just have to agree to disagree.

Like you said, be firm on how you want to do your recovery. It’s your knee, your choice.

There are many different opinions on the recovery from surgeons and PTs and everybody else we know. So, that tells me there is no one right way to do it, so we get to choose how we want to recover.

Best wishes to you, and Welcome to Bonesmart, we’re glad you joined us!
 
Thank you, Jockette. You are right he wouldn't view the video! He has never been ill and I think that as I was lame for 18 months before the op he expected immediate improvement. The whole thing has been too much for him. I'm feeling better and stronger today, thanks to the support I've had, so I will try to introduce some humour into it.

Best wishes
 
Remember also, this recovery is not a straight line forward improvement, there will be a lot of steps back. You will have good days and bad days, for a while. We all did. So don’t worry when that happens. :console2:
 
I had a similar issue with a family member. We had to agree to disagree. Bottom line was that my knee is going to recover in its own time no matter who likes it. There are great people here to guide you through this journey. Good luck.
 
Yes, agree to disagree, but remember that it is your knee and the decision about what happens to it is yours.

Some men have no idea of the severity of knee replacement surgery. They think you should just stop moaning and get on with things.

My husband was a bit like that, so I made it clear from the start that I would be in charge of my knee.
He recently had a major operation and he has not handled it very well at all. He did expect to bounce right back from it and he has now lost a lot of confidence because that didn't happen.
 
Hello,
Please add my left knee surgery date 8 June 18 to Jakesmum, my screen name.
 
Hello,
I'm 4.5 weeks post op left knee and feel I'm doing well, though possibly not as well as PT would like.
I have noticed that my knee tends to lean to the left when I'm standing and especially in bed. My dressing came off yesterday, my knee is still very swollen but this morning I realised that to the left of the scar, the flesh of my knee feels absolutely solid with none of the sponginess of normal flesh. It also feels numb and there is no feeling when I touch it. The right side is equally swollen but although still bruised it has the normal springy feel of flesh and has feeling.
Does anyone else have this lack of feeling in one side? Is it normal at this stage of recovery?
Thanks for reading this post.
 
Hello ....yes very normal....I have had both knees done recently and both knees are numb on the side where the drain was or the outside of the knee. I believe some sensation will come back but have friends six years out and still have numb spots.

Good luck with your recovery
 
Hello again @Jakesmum
You'll notice that I have merged the two separate threads you started today with your original recovery thread.

Please don't keep starting new threads.
For several reasons, we prefer that you only have one recovery thread:
  • That way, we have all your information in one place. This makes it easier to go back and review your history before providing advice.
  • If you keep starting new threads, you miss the posts and advice others have left for you in the old threads, and some information may be unnecessarily repeated
  • Having only one thread will act as a diary of your progress that you can look back on.
So please post any updates, questions or concerns about your recovery here.
Don't worry that we won't see your question because, between us, the staff read all new posts every day.
If you need an urgent response to a question, just tag a member of staff.
How to tag another member; how to answer when someone tags you

If you prefer a different thread title, just post what you want and we'll get it changed for you.

Here are the instructions on finding your thread, How can I find my threads and posts? . Many members bookmark their thread, so they can find it when they log on.

Did you read the articles I posted for you? If you did, you should have seen this, at the end:
While members may create as many threads as they like in a majority of BoneSmart's forums, we ask that each member have only one recovery thread. This policy makes it easier to go back and review history before providing advice.

IF you're having problems working out how BoneSmart works, have a look at this area - it has lots of useful " How to . . . " articles:
https://bonesmart.org/forum/view/how-to-use-this-forum.74/
 
Thank you for your reply. Yes I received your replies and replied to them. I'm sorry I just don't understand this forum thread thing. I'll follow your link and study it. I'm not a computer newbie by any means but I've never been involved in any forums or social media.
 
Jakesmum,
Bookmark your thread so you can find it easily when you come back to update your recovery.
 
Yes I have the same numbness and hard feeling on the outside of my knee. From reading this forum I can see it is quite normal and will come back in time. I also have a haematoma on that side which affects things as well.
 
I'm sorry I just don't understand this forum thread thing.
A thread is a series of posts about one person's recovery.
In recovery, each person has their own thread.

This is your recovery thread. It acts like a diary of your recovery and keeps everything about your recovery in one place.
You post updates and questions on it about your recovery, and people respond to you.

BoneSmart doesn't work like a chat group.
You can post to another person about their recovery , in their own thread. You don't talk much about your own recovery in another person's thread, but its OK to talk about something that helped you, if you think it might help them too.

I gave you a couple of links that might help you - how to find your posts and threads, and how to tag someone else. It is a good ida to bookmark your thread if you can do that.
 

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